One Hundred Days
by Aaron Nowack
Summary: Naruto leaves on his three year training trip, and Sakura begins the struggle to improve herself. How much will they have changed when they meet again in one hundred days?
1. Prelude: The Night Before

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Prelude: The Night Before

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, monkeys.

* * *

A small rock struck Haruno Sakura's bedroom window. The noise it made was slight enough that even the lightest sleeper might merely have rolled over in bed, never waking. Unless said person happened to be a trained ninja, that was. One of the many lessons that was drilled into the trainees at the ninja academy was that one was most vulnerable when sleeping. Better to wake at the slightest hint of a threat and suffer through many false alarms than to miss a single true attack and never wake again.

Haruno Sakura had taken all her lessons to heart as best she could. Even here, in her home near the very heart of the Hidden Village of the Leaf, surrounded by hundreds of protectors, she slept lighter than any untrained person could and still call it sleep. By the time the last faint echo of the rock's impact had faded, several pillows, positioned in a fair approximation of Sakura's shape, had replaced her in bed. Sakura herself was perched above the window, glued to the ceiling by her chakra. The kunai she kept on her nightstand was clenched in her teeth, and she waited patiently for any sign of attackers.

After several long moments, when Sakura almost felt it was safe to return to sleep, a large figure landed on her windowsill. Instantly snapping to full alertness, she moved her kunai to her hand, adjusting the chakra flow in her other limbs to compensate. The figure outside tested the window and found it locked. It laid a hand on the smooth glass, and Sakura felt a brief chakra pulse. With a click that sounded loud to her straining ears, the simple lock opened, and moments later the window followed.

As the man outside climbed through, Sakura tensed. At precisely the right time, she dropped from her perch, perfectly positioned to grab the intruder and place her blade at his throat. All this accuracy, however, did not avail her. Faster than she could see, the man reacted, sending the kunai flying to impale itself with a thud in the door to her room and reversing her hold before it could begin. She flailed ineffectively in the air for a few seconds, before realizing that she knew the man holding her.

Two impulses warred briefly in her mind, and the stronger quickly asserted itself. "Wha... what the hell are you doing sneaking into my room, you perv-"

Jiraiya, the famous Toad Hermit, clasped a hand over the young girl's mouth, muffling her cry. "Hush. Don't cause a mess, Sakura-chan," he whispered. "I'm not supposed to be here."

"No, really," Sakura muttered through the older ninja's hand.

"Listen, Sakura-chan. You want to -"

The door to the room flung open, bouncing back slightly as the hilt of Sakura's weapon hit the wall. "Sakura, I heard something, are you all... who the hell are you!"

Jiraiya released his captive, scratching the back of his head. "Your mother?" he asked as he looked at the young woman who stood in the door, taking in her dark hair.

Sakura nodded.

"You must get your hair from your father," Jiraiya muttered quietly to himself as he walked forward. He let out a nervous chuckle. "Um... you see, Haruno-san, this all is sort of a big misunderstan - Sleep!" As Jiraiya placed his hand on the woman's shoulder, she collapsed slowly to the ground. As she began to snore, Jiraiya turned back to the young kunoichi. "Sorry," he said. "Put her back in bed, and she should think it was just a dream."

"Doesn't one of the legendary Sannin have better things to do than break into a young woman's bedroom?" Sakura asked irritably. "That's a little low even for you."

"I thought you were asleep," Jiraiya said. "And I needed to wake you."

"I had no idea who you were! You could have been an assassin!"

Jiraiya blinked. "You get a lot of those here?"

"Um... not really." Against her will, Sakura giggled embarrassedly.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "In any case, what I came here to say was this. You want to be at the west gate in ten minutes."

"Why?" Sakura demanded.

"Trust me." Jiraiya grinned lecherously. "You might want to get dressed first, though."

"You... you pervert!" Sakura growled, reaching down for a pillow and hurling it at the legendary ninja. Jiraiya didn't dodge, letting the improvised missile hit him in the face.

He waved. "Bye," he said as he vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Shadow Replication?" Sakura asked curiously. "What's going on?" She glanced down at her mother's still form, and with a quiet groan lifted her unconscious parent with one arm and left the room.

* * *

"Damn old pervert," Naruto muttered as he packed hurriedly. "Can't even take the time to show me a single technique for weeks, and then tells me we have to leave in the middle of the night!" He hurled a crumpled-up shirt into the nearly-full pack that laid opened on his unmade bed. "Couldn't he give me any warning? And nights are for sleeping, too! It's not fair!" Naruto nodded at his own irrefutable logic.

"Let's see," he said as he began to ruffle through the pack. "Changes of clothes, technique scrolls, spare equipment, dirty underwear - what's that doing in there?" The offending clothing was thrown to one side, to land precariously on a doorknob. "Toothbrush!"

Naruto raced into his bathroom, returning seconds later with that item, shoving it into the pack. "Let's see, what else do I need?" A sneaky look appeared on his face. "That old pervert is evil, so..." He grinned, and raced out of the room once more.

When he returned, his arms were full with packages of instant ramen. "It's lucky I just went shopping! Now I won't have to worry about him keeping me away from ramen!" Naruto's mouth watered as he began to stuff the pack even fuller. "Maybe I should make one now." He shook his head. "No, I must be strong! I've got to save the ramen for later!"

Still, seconds later he was back in his filthy kitchen, shoveling down ramen at a speed that any who had never seen him eat before might have called impossible. As he was polishing off his third package, his eyes widened as he happened to glance at his clock. "I'm gonna be late!"

He leapt up from the table, leaving several mouthfuls of ramen still in the bowl - something that those who had seen Naruto eat might have called impossible. He ran back into his bedroom and struggled briefly to force his over-full pack to close. After throwing out one set of clothing - he could always wash more often, but who knew when more ramen would be available? - he was able to succeed in this task. Throwing the pack on his back, he moved with a speed no lessened by the additional weight, pausing only to turn out the lights before slamming the front door behind him.

He hesitated again after jumping up to the roof of the adjacent building, turning back and gazing his home and at the Hidden Village that surrounded it. He jumped again, to a higher roof, and spun about. The village was dark, only a handful of widely scattered lights still lit. In his mind's eye, though, he could see it all, as it spread out below Hokage Mountain in the light of day. He had left the village before, and each time there had been a chance he would not return, though at first he'd not realized it. This time was different. It could be over a year before they returned, Jiraiya had said. Maybe they would journey for all three years, until... it was best not to think of that.

Naruto took one last, long look as the village he had lived all his life in, seeking to imprint the image in his mind for all time. He gathered in a deep breath, then exhaled. "All right!" he said, "Let's go!" He jumped again, carrying him over to the next roof. After all the angry pursuers he had evaded in his younger years, he knew the rooftops of the Village of the Leaf better than he knew the streets. Never pausing to check his position, he moved from to roof to roof along the fastest route to the west gate.

A familiar presence appeared by his side. Jiraiya. The two ninja exchanged no words. The older man matched Naruto's pace jump for jump, and in less than a minute they had arrived at the western gate out of the Leaf. Unusually for this time of night, it was opened. Unusually for any time, there were no guards in evidence. A female figure leaned against one of the massive wooden doors, tapping her foot impatiently.

"You're late, Jiraiya," she said without looking up.

"Tsunade-baachan!" Naruto exclaimed.

The Fifth Hokage's eyebrow twitched, but all she said was, "You didn't think I wouldn't see you off, did you?"

"Sorry, Tsunade," Jiraiya said. "I had some last-minute business to take care of."

"Do I want to know?" she asked.

Jiraiya let out a weak chuckle. "Probably not."

Naruto snorted. "Pervert."

"You two had better move quickly," Tsunade said. "I was only able to arrange for the guard schedules to have a small hole, or it would be noticed."

"Thanks," Jiraiya said as he glanced back down the dark street that lead to the gate. "Come on, boy," he said as he turned back and headed through the open doors. A moment later Naruto followed.

Both of them stopped at the sound of footsteps running up the street to the gate. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto breathed. "What's she doing here?"

The other member of Team Seven stopped just inside the gate, doubling over and breathing heavily. "Naruto?"

Tsunade glared at Jiraiya. "Your last-minute business?" He nodded.

Sakura straightened suddenly at hearing her voice, finally noticing her presence. "Hokage-sama!"

"At least someone gives me respect around here," Tsunade muttered. She raised her voice. "Nobody was to know about this, Jiraiya."

The male Sannin rolled his eyes. "She deserves a chance to say goodbye, Tsunade. And it's hardly likely she's a spy for Akatsuki or Orochimaru."

The Fifth Hokage sighed. "I guess you're right."

"You're leaving? Tonight?" Sakura asked.

Naruto nodded. "Um... Sakura-chan?" he said, ruffling through his pockets.

"Yes?"

"I think I might've forgotten to lock my door. Could you check it?" Naruto asked sheepishly.

"Of course."

Naruto tossed her a single key, which Sakura easily caught and slipped into a pocket of her own. The two looked at each other for a moment, then Naruto spoke again. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I'm still going to keep my pr-"

"Naruto," Sakura said, stopping him in mid-word. She stepped forward again, and gathered her teammate into an awkward embrace.

"Sakura-chan..."

"Just," Sakura began, stumbling over the word. "Just come back, Naruto. I couldn't stand it if you both -"

"I will," Naruto interrupted. "It's a..." Promise. He couldn't bring himself to say that word, not with the unkept vow that hung between them. "I'll try," he finished weakly.

Sakura released him. She rubbed at her eyes, struggling not to cry. "Thank you." She stepped back inside the gates. "Goodbye."

Naruto cleared his throat. "Goodbye."

"Jiraiya," Tsunade said after a moment.

"Yes?"

"Bring him back," the Hokage said. "If you come back without him, I'll make you wish Orochimaru had you."

Jiraiya just nodded. He laid a hand on Naruto. "Come on, boy." With no further words, the two vanished into the forest that surrounded the Hidden Village of the Leaf.

A moment later, Tsunade shut the massive wooden gates behind them with two flicks of her finger.

* * *

Jiraiya moved through the trees even more quickly than he had moved across the rooftops of the village, and Naruto followed one branch behind. Again, they did not speak as they traveled. Once, Jiraiya changed direction so quickly that Naruto jumped one tree further along his former path before realizing it. After that Naruto dropped back another branch to give himself more time to react.

Once they had placed half a mile between them and the gate, they stopped on a thick branch that overhung a large clearing. "That should do it," Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "It's been a while since I've run like that."

Naruto snorted. "So where are we going, Ero-sennin?"

"I've told you not to call me that," Jiraiya said.

Naruto only let out another snort in reply.

Jiraiya shook his head sadly, then jumped several times until he was perched on top of the tree, several stories above the ground. From here he could easily see the clear night sky, and he gazed at it for several moments. "Only a sliver of moon tonight," he whispered to himself. "That's good."

"Hey!" Naruto called from below. "Whatcha waitin' for?"

"Patience," Jiraiya said as he leapt down in a single jump to stand beside Naruto once more, "is a virtue for a ninja." Not that there was much chance of convincing Naruto of that just by saying so, he knew. If it was possible at all, it would take many repetitions and more than a few object lessons. "This way," he said, and with that he leapt to another tree.

They traveled as before for several minutes, the trees growing taller and thicker as they headed deeper into the forest. Soon their progress slowed as they were forced to continually dodge inconveniently placed branches, and Naruto felt it safe to speed up briefly until he was once again only a single jump behind the other ninja. Memories briefly assaulted him of the last time he had moved through the trees like this, that desperate race to the borders of the Fire Country. "Sasuke," he whispered.

Jiraiya glanced back at Naruto, and paused briefly. "Something wrong?"

"N- I gotta use the bathroom," Naruto said, a shake of a head turning into an awkward nod.

Jiraiya buried his face in one hand and groaned. "I see I've got a lot of work to do." He sighed. "Go ahead and do it fast, and catch up." With that he vanished, leaping ahead.

Naruto jumped down to the forest floor. He turned to face the tree trunk and began to whistle as he did his business. When he was done, he zipped up and turned back around. His eyes widened and he froze as a shadow detached itself from the tree above and dropped to stand behind him.

"Stupid kid," a harsh, male voice said as the shadow grabbed him and placed a kunai at his throat. "I thought this was going to be tough." There was a burst of smoke, and the man's eyes widened as he realized that all he held was a conveniently shaped and sized piece of deadwood. "Replacement Technique!"

Another figure dropped from the treetops, casually disarming the man and wresting his arms back behind him. The man struggled a moment, then relaxed as he realized that he could not wrench his arms free from his opponent's strong grasp.

Jiraiya's other hand brought the attacker's own blade up to his throat. "Good work, Naruto," he said as his pupil emerged from behind another tree. The young ninja smiled at the praise.

The attacker's gaze narrowed. "You were on to me. Damn it."

"I suspected someone was following us since we stopped for the first time, " Jiraiya said, "but I wasn't certain until Naruto pointed you out."

Naruto chuckled, and the attacker sighed. "Damn it," he repeated.

"You're a pretty good tracker, to follow us like that," Jiraiya said.

The attacker laughed weakly. "You're pretty good, old man, but the boy's louder than a running battle."

Naruto growled, but Jiraiya ignored him. "Care to tell us who hired you?"

The man shrugged his shoulders as best he could. "You going to let me live?"

"Sure."

"A young man. Black hair, dark eyes. Wore a black and red cloak, offered a decent amount for the boy or information about his destination. Told us the target'd be leaving the Hidden Village sometime soon." The man shrugged again. "Not great money, but now that the Leaf are starting to recover from the war there's not as much work going around for independent mercenaries."

Jiraiya grimaced. He knew who the description sounded like, but even without accounting for transformation techniques there were a lot of people with dark hair and eyes, and anyone could wear a black and red cloak. It would be like Orochimaru to try and pin the blame on his rivals.

"He want the boy dead or alive?" Jiraiya asked.

"Either." The man paused. "A little bit bigger reward for alive."

"How many others?"

"A couple dozen."

"Along the way to Sand?"

"A few, I guess. We don't exactly work together. Unless we're paid to, of course."

"Thank you for your cooperation," Jiraiya said, hurling the man into the closest tree trunk. As the attacker slumped to the ground unconscious, Jiraiya leapt up to a low-hanging branch. "Come on, Naruto. We've got a long way to go tonight."

They headed west for several minutes before Jiraiya abruptly changed direction once again. "The Sand are the way we were going, aren't they?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Jiraiya answered.

"Aren't we going there?"

"No."

"But you said -"

"When he wakes up that man will tell whoever hired him that we're headed to the Wind Country and the Village of Sand," Jiraiya said. "That's the last way we want to go. We're going north."

"To the Rice Field Country?" Rice Field lay to the north, and it was home to the Hidden Village of Sound - and Orochimaru.

"Of course not," Jiraiya answered, irritated. "I'm trying to keep you away from Orochimaru, you idiot. We'll go through one of the other small nations and head for the Earth or Lightning Country. They aren't allies like Wind is, but I've got some friends there."

"That's a long way," Naruto said with a frown.

"Yes it is," Jiraiya said. "Now be quiet. I want to put more distance between us and the village, and I don't want you leading more enemies to us."

Naruto grumbled briefly, but he complied, and the two ninja sped silently through the night.

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings

1) Yes, it's not the most original idea for a story, but I like to hope that it'll be a good implementation of that idea. At the very least, it should beat the current fillers in the anime for amusement value.

2) For the purposes of this story, canon is the anime through the end of the Rice Field Country filler arc - episode 141, I believe - and nothing else. Since I'm not reading the manga scanlations, I don't know enough to make things match up perfectly with the current story even if I were inclined to.

3) Given the state of Naruto fanfiction, it is probably worth mentioning that, so far as this story has a pairing, the characters in question won't be seeing each other again until the end of the story.

4) Thanks go to Ryan Hupp and Rebecca Nowack for prereading this prelude. Thanks also go to The Eternal Lost Lurker for commenting on the draft.

Draft Started: July 18, 2005

Draft Finished: July 23, 2005

Draft Released: October 30, 2005

Final Released: November 16, 2005


	2. Chapter 1: The First Week

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 1: The First Week

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, walruses. Walri. More than one walrus. You know.

* * *

**Day One**

"And that's what happened." The sun had already begun to rise, but here, in the depths of the forest that was home to the Hidden Village of the Leaf, it would not be visible for some hours yet. The man who had spoken rubbed the back of his head. It still ached where he had hit the tree trunk the night before. He had planned to use a replacement technique to avoid the final strike, but the throw had come so suddenly.

"Very well," the spymaster replied. "Orochimaru-sama will be pleased."

"I don't think the Toad Hermit believed me." The man swallowed nervously. "Anyone can wear a cloak, after all."

"Is that so?" The spymaster smiled thinly. "You're a brave man, to admit you failed Orochimaru-sama."

"Stop playing with me, Yakushi. I did exactly as you asked. It isn't my fault your orders did nothing to distract the Hermit's attention." The man rose from his kneeling position, a hand sneaking down to the hilt of a hidden blade.

"Do you think Orochimaru-sama cares for such matters?" Yakushi Kabuto asked, the slight smile never leaving his face. "He has far more important things on his mind."

The man leapt backward, drawing his weapon. "I won't go down easily."

"Is that so?" Kabuto let out an overdramatic sigh. "I gave exactly the orders I wanted carried out. Why would I kill you?"

"What do you mean?"

Kabuto smiled once more. "Why do you assume Orochimaru-sama wanted Jiraiya-sama's attention turned away from him? You need not worry that you have failed him."

The man's eyes widened in realization, and he lowered his blade. Though he did not kneel again, he fell out of his battle stance. "You have a strange sense of humor, Yakushi-sama."

Kabuto laughed. "I've been told that before." He walked over and placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "But as I said, Orochimaru-sama will be pleased." The man buckled over, his body twitching as he slowly fell to my knees.

"Wh-" he managed to gasp out.

"What? My chakra has severed a few vital arteries. You should die shortly." Kabuto knelt down beside the man. "Or was it 'why' you want to ask?

"The Fuuma Clan broke faith with Orochimaru. You were a loose end that had to be tied up. You should have payed closer attention, my friend. After all," Kabuto said as he rose, "I did not say you had no reason to worry."

Then the man died.

* * *

Jiraiya yawned, and turned to the side of the small dirt road. "That's far enough for now." The rising sun shone brightly in his eyes, and he raised an arm to ward off the glare. "I haven't heard any pursuers." Even as Naruto plopped down on the ground beside him, Jiraiya frowned. If there had been as many hunters out as the man they had encountered had said, surely there would have been some sign of them. Several times during the night he had surreptitiously created a replication and sent it out to scout. Not once had he seen any hint that anyone other than Naruto and he had traveled the woods, save for the easily avoided patrols of Leaf ninja.

It was also worrisome that the man had known roughly when they would be leaving the village. Tsunade had gone to great lengths to obscure whether and when Naruto would be leaving the village, for fear of an Akatsuki spy. This was a sign not only that there was a spy, but that he or she was a highly skilled one - for no one else other than Tsunade had known in advance the night he had chosen to leave.

There was no real evidence the spy worked for Akatsuki, though. The captured hunter's description of his master could not be trusted, and even if the hunter had not lied there was every reason for whoever sought Naruto's life to seek to obscure his or her identity. Information was power, and it would have been awfully clumsy of Akatsuki to let slip that they were moving again that easily. Then again, their first strike had been an open attack on the Leaf, so who could say? Despite that, Jiraiya expected that if Akatsuki really were moving, they would not waste time with low-level thugs. It would have been a team of master ninja camped outside Leaf's gates, not hired mercenaries. As well, he had good intelligence that Akatsuki wasn't ready to move yet.

So then, who? Orochimaru was the obvious candidate, but there was no direct evidence pointing to him either. He certainly had the means and motive, though. Jiraiya could not, however, rule out the possibility that a new player had entered the game. He sighed. Such musings were likely only to leave him thinking in circles. Unless new evidence presented itself, there was not much he could do. With another sigh, he pulled a scroll out of his pack and sat down beside Naruto.

The genin looked at Jiraiya, excited. "Is that the new technique you're going to teach me?" He reached for the scroll suddenly, wrenching it from Jiraiya's unresisting hands. Naruto rapidly began to unroll it, only to grimace. "It's blank!"

"That's right," Jiraiya said as he took the scroll back. He pulled a brush and ink from his pack, ripped off a piece of paper from the blank scroll, and set to writing.

Naruto peered curiously over the Sannin's shoulder. "Rabbit moon fire... it doesn't make any sense!"

"It's a code, Naruto," Jiraiya said. "That way I don't have to worry about someone I don't want to reading it."

"What's it say?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "Just a quick note to Tsunade." He added the last few characters to his message. He handed the shred of paper to Naruto, who began to read through the meaningless-seeming words. Jiraiya bit at his thumb, just hard enough to break the skin and cause blood to flow. He placed his hand on the ground. "Summoning Technique," he breathed.

A small toad appeared in a puff of smoke, and Jiraiya took the scrap of paper back from Naruto. "Take this to the Hokage's office and give it to Tsunade, please," he said to the waiting toad as he rolled the paper up and tied it with a piece of string. The toad nodded solemnly, and Jiraiya tossed the message to it. The toad caught the small roll of paper in its mouth. There was a blur of motion, and the summoned creature was no longer there.

Jiraiya sighed as his quick eyes followed the toad's path. That was that, he supposed. This training journey looked like it was going to get more complicated than he had feared. He actually had thought of taking Naruto to the Wind Country - the Sand were once again allies after all, however tentative that alliance might be of late. The confirmation that someone was actively seeking Naruto changed that, though. That would be the first destination that any reasonably informed hunters would anticipate.

"Hey."

Jiraiya ignored Naruto's interjection. The choice then, was between the Earth Country and the Hidden Village of Rock or the Lightning Country and the Hidden Village of Cloud. He supposed it was also possible to double back and head for the Water Country, or to visit one of the smaller countries, but he thought those inferior choices. The Mist still guarded their islands and techniques with the unwavering ferocity that had once given their village the name of Bloody Mist. The smaller countries were not home to the same breadth of opportunities as the five great powers. It would have to be Rock or Cloud. With some persuasion, he ought to be able to secure instruction in a lower-level technique or two for Naruto - some earth or lightning techniques would give him an unexpected edge.

"Hey, Ero-sennin!"

"What is it, boy?" Jiraiya asked, turning his eyes to his impatient student.

"So, are you going to teach me a new technique or not?"

"Hmm." Jiraiya rubbed his chin theatrically. "I don't know."

"Eh!" Naruto jumped up. "What's the point of this if I'm not going to learn any new techniques?"

"There's more to being a ninja than just techniques, Naruto." Jiraiya sighed. This was going to be a long day.

"So? I need new techniques!" Naruto insisted.

"And why is that?" Jiraiya asked.

"B- because!"

Another sigh escaped Jiraiya's lips. "A ninja doesn't just collect techniques like prizes, boy. Every technique you learn should be for a purpose. Otherwise, you are wasting your time."

"But Kakashi-sensei knows more than a thousand techniques!" Naruto protested.

"Kakashi has the Sharingan," Jiraiya said. "You don't."

"But I need to learn new techniques so I can beat Sasuke!"

"At last, a reason," Jiraiya said. "So tell me, Naruto. Why couldn't you beat Sasuke before?"

Naruto blinked. "Because he was stronger than me. That's why I need -"

"Sit down, boy!" Jiraiya interjected sharply. When Naruto complied, Jiraiya continued. "Strength is not the only thing that matters in battle. If you had been fighting Orochimaru, I would accept that as an answer. Sasuke is not Orochimaru. If he is stronger than you, it is still close enough that you could have won. You lost because you made a mistake. What mistake did you make, Naruto?"

Naruto's face fell, and he turned away. "I don't want to talk about it."

As much as Jiraiya tried, he could not get the normally talkative boy to say another word for the rest of the morning, and even after that Naruto would not discuss his battle with Sasuke.

* * *

"Sakura-chan! Wake up! Sakura-chan!" Sakura's mother pounded on her daughter's door in exasperation.

"I'm already up!" The young kunoichi's voice came from downstairs, in the kitchen. Her mother turned around at the sound. "I've been up since before you woke up!"

The older woman shook her head, trying to clear the last vestiges of sleep as she headed down the stairs. "Sorry, Sakura-chan," she said, entering the kitchen. "I must not be thinking yet. I guess I didn't sleep well last night." With a groan, she slid into her usual chair at the kitchen table, letting her head fall into her hands.

Sakura favored her parent with a worried glance. "Bad dreams?" she asked after a moment. At least, she didn't seem to remember last night's incident as reality. Explaining that would have been... moderately challenging.

Her mother raised her head, and twin pairs of green eyes met. "Perhaps," she said, a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "Are you hiding something from me again, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura winced. Her mother still didn't believe that she hadn't known that the second part of the Chuunin Exam would require five days away from home. She'd considered writing a rather unkind letter to... somebody explaining that not everybody had parents who had taken the exam themselves, knew what it required, and would take the sudden five day absence in stride. Then again, if her mother had known what it required, she would have tried to veto Sakura's decision to take the exam. That was a fight she was glad to have avoided.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Of course not, Mother," Sakura answered, struggling to show no sign of hesitation.

Her mother frowned, but seemed to accept this. "Why were you up so early?"

"I have to go check on Naruto's place, and then I have a meeting with Hokage-sama." She had tried to check Naruto's door last night after he had departed, and quickly lost herself in the maze of unfamiliar streets. After a silent apology to Naruto, she had decided it was best to leave it until the morning. "I should probably be leaving soon."

"The Uzumaki brat? Why?" It was so like her mother to be more concerned with her association with Naruto than her meeting with leader of the village.

"He's left on a mission," Sakura answered after considering her words carefully. "He asked me to look after his apartment while he was gone."

"I see," her mother said. That seemed to be all she had to say on the subject. "Did you make yourself breakfast?"

"Yes, Mother." Sakura turned toward the door out of the house.

"Don't stay out too late."

"I won't, Mother." Sakura sighed once she was outside. Ever since she had become a ninja, it had gotten harder and harder to talk to her mother. Considering how little her mother seemed to like everything that came with being a ninja, she wondered why she'd ever been enrolled in the ninja academy. She had a feeling that asking would only prompt a nasty fight of the type she'd been trying to avoid since the Exam.

In the light of day she was better able to navigate the village streets and find her way to Naruto's apartment. It was still early, and few people were about, so she was able to run without worrying about a collision with a passerby. When she arrived at Naruto's apartment, she tested the door and sighed as it opened. Perhaps she should have searched longer last night.

Giving in to curiosity, she slipped inside. Her eyes widened at the sight she saw. Garbage was everywhere - the three open containers of instant ramen on the kitchen table were only the beginning. The small garbage can in the corner was stuffed to overflowing, and was that a pair of underwear she saw hanging off the doorknob into what looked like Naruto's bedroom? Sakura blinked several times. "I guess that's Naruto for you," she said to herself. How could anyone live like this?

Without even thinking about it, she found herself somehow managing to fit at least the ramen containers into garbage bag. Removing the bag from the trash can was more challenging, but she managed - just barely - to keep it closed and the trash inside as she laid the can on its side and pulled it out. After that, the rest was easy - though the bag was heavy by normal standards, for a ninja it was trivially light. It took her several minutes to find the proper location to deposit the bag. It was only after that that she realized how much time she was wasting.

She raced back to Naruto's apartment and locked the door, but made a mental note to return. Not even Naruto should have to come home to that sort of mess, and in any case after a few weeks the stench would be unimaginable, and his neighbors certainly didn't deserve that. Maybe she could get them to ask for the apartment to be cleaned as a D-rank mission so she could get paid.

There was no time for such thoughts now, though. She took to the rooftops - a far rarer occurrence for her than Naruto, but by now people were starting to head for work and the streets were clogged. The last thing she needed was to be slowed down pushing herself through the crowds. Because of her relative inexperience, her progress was not as fast as possible, but somewhat slowed by the necessity of looking to see what the best building to jump to next was. Still, she made up enough time before she was forced to return to the ground - moving rapidly across the rooftops towards the administrative centers of the city was frowned upon, to put it lightly. "I was going to be late to a meeting with the Hokage because I wasted too much time taking out garbage," would not be terribly useful as an excuse if an ANBU guard mistook her for an intruder of some sort.

When she finally reached the Hokage's office, she was breathing heavily from the run. Tsunade looked up from a stack of paperwork as Sakura closed the door behind her. "Kakashi was right when he said you had willpower," she said, but her tone of voice made it clear that she did not mean it as a compliment.

"Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked, confused.

"I have had a closer look at your records, Haruno-kun." Tsunade ruffled through the papers on her desk and pulled one out. She began to read aloud. "The usual number and ranks of missions. Failed to reach the third stage of the Chuunin Exam. Weak taijutsu. Average in ninjutsu; uses precise chakra control to compensate for low stamina. Some talent in genjutsu, but untrained. No techniques of note. Is this accurate, Haruno-kun?"

Sakura wasn't able to stop herself from gulping. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"I do not know what impression you were under, but I do not have time to help a below-average genin play catch up. Do you understand, Haruno-kun?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Sakura said quietly as she turned away. "I'll just -"

"Did I say you could leave, Haruno-kun?"

Sakura halted instantly. "No, Hokage-sama." She slowly turned back.

Tsunade set the piece of paper down and folded her hands in front of her face. "You want me to train you because you feel useless. You didn't believe you could do anything on your last mission."

Sakura remembered her helplessness, and lowered her head. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Here is my first task for you, then. There are many opportunities in this village for you to better yourself. I am feeling generous, therefore I will not assign Kakashi any missions this week, so you will have somewhere to start." Tsunade smiled behind her hands as Sakura's eyes widened. "Improve until you would not have been worthless on that mission, and perhaps then you will be ready to be my apprentice. Have I made myself clear, Haruno-kun?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Sakura said, some hope returning to her voice. "May I leave?"

"One more thing." Tsunade again searched through the papers that cluttered her desk, and when she found the one she was looking for she held it out to Sakura. The younger kunoichi gasped as she recognized the form. "The Hidden of Village of the Leaf will be hosting another Chuunin Exam next month," Tsunade continued. "I expect you to participate, and I expect you to improve your performance over your showing last time."

"But, Hokage-sama," Sakura protested, "The Chuunin Exam requires registration in teams of three, and I..." Sakura trailed off, shuffling her feet uncomfortably.

"Then you will just have to find two more people, won't you?" Tsunade asked.

After a moment, Sakura took the form. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Then you may leave." Tsunade's faint smile turned into a grin as the door to her office closed behind Sakura. "Sorry, Sakura-chan," she said to the empty air, "that was cruel, but it was what you needed most. Do your best."

* * *

**Day Two**

The morning had not been terribly successful for Sakura. Kakashi was nowhere to be found, but she had spent most of the morning tracking down the other jounin teachers and asking them to pass her request for a meeting on to him. After that she had attempted to implement her plan to get paid for cleaning Naruto's apartment, but those of his neighbors who were home had slammed the door in her face as soon as she said the words "Uzumaki Naruto." Why? Sure, Naruto was really annoying, but he'd never done anything to deserve that sort of reaction. It was strange.

Still, it did not change the fact that she was in Naruto's apartment, with a terrible mess before her and no hope of payment at the end. "I hope Naruto appreciates this," Sakura muttered as she considered where to begin. Best to start where she was, in the kitchen. That way she had a clear line of retreat in case the mess suddenly animated itself and fought in self-defense.

Fortunately, no trash monsters appeared as she placed a fresh bag in the garbage can and began to clear the room of what seemed like the entirety of its contents. It was an interesting challenge to attempt to throw six or more pieces of trash accurately at once, she soon found. Unlike shuriken, they were bulky and of differing shapes and weights. Still, after a few botched throws she had a good rhythm down and was clearing the room with surprising speed.

She paused briefly when she tossed her eighth milk carton into the trash. "Does he ever throw things out?" she wondered aloud. "Or does he just take that 'milk makes you strong' stuff really seriously?" With Naruto, she knew both options were probably equally likely. The image of Naruto guzzling carton after carton of milk forced a giggle past her lips. "'I'll get stronger for sure,' that's what he'd say."

The next carton she stumbled across forced her to abandon this amusing image however. "This expiration date is from last year! That idiot really does never throw anything out!" Sakura sighed, and tossed the offending package at the garbage can. It bounced off the pile of trash that rose from the can, and Sakura's eyes widened. "It's full already?" She glanced around Naruto's kitchen, and groaned as she realized that she'd cleared away only about half of the mess.

Now that she knew where the dumpster was, it took her less than a minute to deposit the full garbage bag and return. She eventually proved her previous estimate wrong - it took a full one and a half bags to clear out the rest of the kitchen, including the spoiling food from the refrigerator. A quick dusting of the tabletop, and the room actually looked somewhat well-kept. "Naruto had better thank me for this," Sakura said as she wiped her forehead. "And those rude neighbors, too. They're the ones who would've had to live with the stench."

She quickly pondered where to move next, frowning at the only exit from the kitchen other than the door leading to the outside. It was a small hallway with one door on each side and another at the far end. One of the side doors was half open, and from what she could see lead to Naruto's bedroom. That, she decided, was where to head next. A determined look on her face, she strode into the hallway.

She stopped, eyebrow twitching, as she saw what hung off of the bedroom door's doorknob. She lifted the piece of filthy underwear gingerly, holding it at arm's length. "I am not doing his laundry," Sakura decided. She had to draw the line somewhere, after all. A quick search of the bedroom uncovered an almost unused hamper, and Sakura set to filling it with the dirty clothing that was haphazardly strewn all over the room.

Once that was done, the room looked surprisingly clean. Sakura had to guess that ordinarily there would be more clutter, but that Naruto had taken a good portion of it with him on his trip. After a moment's thought, Sakura simply made up the bed and mentally declared the room clean. It wasn't her problem if Naruto tripped over things in the dark, and though the scrolls lying on the floor looked messy, she didn't exactly see a better spot for them in the rather bare room.

Heading back in the hallway, she decided that she might as well move in a circle and opened the door opposite the kitchen. This revealed a small bathroom, which Sakura was relieved to see showed at least a few signs that it had been cleaned at some point since Naruto started living here. "Even he has some limits, I guess," she said, a slight smile forming on her face. After a few moments' further consideration, Sakura decided that, though the bathroom was far too filthy for her taste, it wasn't worth her time to give it a thorough cleaning. It wasn't like she was going to get paid for this, after all.

She headed on to the last room, where she had to wrestle with the stuck door. When it finally opened, it kicked up a cloud of dust that left her coughing and sneezing. When it settled down, she looked inside and saw another bedroom, even more bare than Naruto's room. In fact, there was nothing there to show that it had been used in years. The bed was neatly made, and the nightstand - the room's only other piece of furniture - was empty save for the layer of dust that covered it.

"Well, I guess Naruto can't have lived alone all his life," Sakura commented to herself. "Was this his parents' room?" With the excuse of giving the room a quick, and certainly necessary, dusting, Sakura searched the room for any clue to its previous inhabitants. Much to her disappointment, she found nothing. She made one more quick survey of the apartment and decided that her work here was done. It wasn't really clean by any real standards, but now it wasn't nearly as likely to start generating complaints from the neighbors in a few months.

As Sakura left and locked the door behind her, she glanced at the position of the sun and noted that she had been cleaning for longer than she had thought. On the bright side, it hadn't taken nearly as long as she had first feared it would - only an afternoon rather than a full day. Sakura sighed. Even with that, today had been a wasted day from a training perspective. If she was supposed to take the Chuunin Exam next month, she didn't have many days to waste.

Sakura began to slowly walk down the stairs to street level. She was out of shape, she knew. Though she hadn't been totally lax in her training, it felt like it had been ages since she'd seriously tried to push her limits, and longer since she'd been on an actual mission, rather than one of the near-pointless D-ranks she occasionally did for spending money. She had a lot of work to do to get herself ready for the exam, and that was the least of her problems.

First, she needed a team. Shikamaru had become a chuunin already, she knew, so his team would be short a member. But... teaming up with that pig Ino? Sure, they'd started getting along a little better since the first exam, but being on the same team would stick them together far too often for her taste. Besides, there was no way of knowing whether Chouji would be back in full health by then, anyway. If not, they'd still need a third member.

A sigh escaped Sakura's lips. That wasn't the main thing she was worried about, and she knew it. Those problems would only come into play if she could convince her mother to let her take the exam again in the first place. That was a fight that she was really not looking forward to. Looking back, her mother hadn't seemed completely thrilled when she'd chosen to become an active genin rather than heading into one of the training schools for administrators. Ever since the Chuunin Exams, though, they'd had more and more fights where it seemed the only rational explanation for her mother's behavior was that she didn't want Sakura to be a ninja.

Sakura's stomach growled, and her attention wandered to the side of the street. That was Naruto's favorite ramen stand, wasn't it? The owner was standing in the entryway, sweeping out the dirt the customers had tracked in over the day. He looked up, and smiled as he saw her. "You're Sakura-chan, aren't you? The Uzumaki kid's teammate?" She nodded, and the owner's smile widened. "Come in, come in. You look hungry, and I've got some leftover ramen that'll be ruined by the time the dinner rush starts." When Sakura hesitated, he waved to beckon her in. "I'll even give it to you half off!"

Her mother would say she was ruining her dinner. "Why not?" Sakura said. Moments later, she was seated and the owner dished out a bowl of ramen. The owner's daughter placed the bowl in front of her with a heavy thud.

"Here you go," she said.

"Thank you," Sakura said before she began to eat.

After a few moments, the owner half-turned to look at her. "Ayame says she saw you going in and out of the kid's apartment."

"Naruto's?" Sakura asked, nodding.

The man gave a slight nod of his own. "He hasn't been by today," he commented, and paused expectantly.

Sakura blinked. "He comes... every day?" she asked incredulously.

The owner and his daughter laughed in unison. "He's our best customer," the owner said after a moment. "He's the reason I've got so much left today - usually he'd have eaten at least four or five bowls by now." Sakura's face fell slightly, and the owner frowned in turn. "Is something wrong with him?"

Sakura shook her head. "No. He's just left on a... mission. He won't be back for a long time."

"Is that so?" the owner asked with a sigh. "We'll miss him."

Sakura glanced down at her ramen. "Seems like you're the only ones in this neighborhood," she said. "I was going to get the neighbors to ask for his apartment to get cleaned as a D-rank mission, so they wouldn't have to deal with the stench."

The owner traded a look with his daughter. "Ah," he said after a moment. "I see."

"What did he do to make them hate him so much?"

After a long moment, the owner shrugged. "I don't know," he said flatly. He paused, as though considering what to say. "Maybe Hokage-sama would." He caught her eyes, and Sakura frowned. He was trying to get her to ask Tsunade-sama... but how would she know? She'd only recently arrived in the village, after all.

Sakura finished her ramen, and rose to leave, reaching into her pocket for money. The owner again looked at her, and she felt like she was being weighed and measured. After what seemed an eternity he nodded. "Don't worry about it," he said.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked.

He smiled. "Come back again."

Sakura nodded. "I will."

* * *

"Attack in forest. Okay. Spy suspected - snake? Unlikely others. Be careful."

Tsunade cursed the limits of the simple code she and Jiraiya had used back in their chuunin days. "Snake" meant Orochimaru, of course, and "others" would be Akatsuki - not a name they'd needed to use back then. She was certain that both groups did have agents in the Leaf - the village was simply too large to be certain that every inhabitant was loyal. With this little information, though, she had no way of determining who the spy was. Supposedly, no one had known Naruto's departure date but Jiraiya and she. The spy, whoever he or she might be, was either an incredibly good eavesdropper or very able in piecing together shreds of information into a coherent whole.

With a groan, Tsunade channeled chakra into the scrap of paper, and it burst into flames. As soon as the note was nothing but ash, she spoke to the toad that sat waiting on her desk. "You can go," she said, and the summoned animal vanished in a small puff of smoke. She ought to have tried to get Jiraiya to let her sign the toad contract, she decided. Though she was fond of her slugs, they were not well suited to serve as messengers. Then again, she probably wouldn't have succeeded. Since he'd gotten it, only two people she knew of had signed it.

She pushed aside the paperwork she had been working on and glanced up the portraits that hung on the wall opposite her desk. "Why did I ever take this job?" she asked the empty air. There was a knock on the door, and Tsunade straightened. "Come in."

"Yo," Hatake Kakashi said as he entered.

"Ah, you're back," Tsunade said. "Any difficulties?"

Kakashi shook his head. "I couldn't find any Sound ninja left on our side of the border." He grimaced. "I guess Orochimaru has what he wants."

Tsunade frowned, considering Jiraiya's message. "Perhaps."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. "So what's my next mission?"

Tsunade crossed her hands before her face. "You actually get a break now. Ten S-rank missions in a row is a bit much, I thought."

"There aren't enough jounin," Kakashi said. "You've told me that enough times."

"You're still getting a break, Kakashi." Tsunade grinned, though the Copy Ninja couldn't see it. "I thought that's what you wanted?"

"I'd like to request permission to leave the village, then," Kakashi said.

"Why?" Tsunade asked, genuinely puzzled for a moment. Kakashi clenched his fists, and Tsunade dropped her hands, half-rising from her seat. "Absolutely not!" she snapped. "I'm not going to let you throw your life away, Hatake. You even think about going after Orochimaru and I'll assign a full-time ANBU guard to keep you here!"

"They were my first students, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said after a moment. "I failed. Naruto's found a better teacher, and Sasuke... I have to do something!" The jounin's fists were clenched so tightly Tsunade was certain his nails were about to draw blood.

Tsunade seated herself, refolding her arms. "You still have one student, Hatake, and she needs your attention."

Kakashi's visible eye widened in surprise. "Sakura-chan?"

* * *

**Day Three**

It was on the third day of their journey that Naruto answered Jiraiya's question. The morning passed much as the previous two days - mainly in silence, with no words of consequence passing between them. The pair had entered the borderlands between the Fire and Hill countries, moving along the several trails that ran parallel to the main road. Though it had been many years since any serious fighting had taken place in these lands, they were still marked on neutral maps as contested, and Jiraiya had made Naruto hide his forehead protector with its Leaf emblem. If ninja from the Hill Country, or worse their ally the Hidden Village of Rock, were taking advantage of the Leaf's recent weakness to enforce their claim to these lands, it would be best to not advertise their allegiance. It would be even more important once they entered into the Hill Country proper and started to head further north into the Earth Country. If Orochimaru or Akatsuki had hunters after them... well, such small measures were unlikely to throw them off the scent, but they certainly would not hurt.

Though all these things weighed on Jiraiya's mind, far more pressing was the matter of his companion. He had never seen the boy so depressed, and from all he had heard it was far from normal for him to be this way for even a few hours - much less so a few days. Though Jiraiya had sometimes wished his student were a bit more quiet, this silence was troublesome, for in this mood Naruto was in no shape to train - or to fight if the need arose. Something would have to be done to shake him out of it.

"Hey, boy," Jiraiya said. Naruto grunted distractedly in reply. Jiraiya continued, "Let's go into the next village and get something to eat."

"Not hungry," Naruto said after a moment.

"Oh?" Jiraiya asked. "You do know that they don't eat ramen where we're headed, don't you?"

Naruto blinked in surprise. "No ramen! What kind of monsters are they!" he yelled, the loudest he had been since Jiraiya had asked his question.

The Toad Hermit grinned. "Still not hungry?"

Naruto glared at Jiraiya, but followed eagerly as he lead the way into the village. It was small and not terribly prosperous - too far away from the main trade routes to benefit from hosting caravans on the way to Earth Country and too close to hope to encourage a small trade route to run through it. Then again, in the borderlands a little more prosperity would have been a dangerous thing. A slightly richer village would be a vastly more attractive target for bandits but would not be rich enough to afford the defenses it would need.

Finding the village's only restaurant - which was also the only bar - took only a minute. It was still an hour or so before noon, and only a handful of patrons, mostly old drunks, were in evidence. Jiraiya claimed an empty table in an abandoned corner, and Naruto sat across from him. Predictably, when the time came the young genin ordered one of every ramen dish on the menu. Jiraiya merely ordered a drink and settled down to watch his student eat - always a fascinating experience, in his opinion.

When Naruto was working on the third bowl of his feast, he paused briefly to speak. "I've been thinking about your question," he said, then dug into his next bowl.

"Is that so?" Jiraiya asked, fearing to press any harder.

"I know why Sasuke won," Naruto continued once he had consumed another bowl, "and it wasn't because I made a mistake." Jiraiya only raised an eyebrow and waited for his student to explain. Naruto dropped his gaze. "That's all," he said quietly.

Jiraiya frowned slightly, quickly smoothing his expression. "What do you mean?" Naruto said nothing, and Jiraiya sighed. "Finish your food." Naruto said nothing more until they were through and were leaving the small village. Then he looked around suspiciously before speaking.

"We're being followed," he whispered to Jiraiya, who nodded curtly.

"That's right," he said quietly, but he did not slow or look back. When they reached the edge of the village, a tall man with a sword strapped across his back stood in the center of the path leading back to road, and he gestured for the pair to stop. Jiraiya again did not slow, and Naruto hastened to keep up with his teacher.

As more men, armed with various improvised weapons filed out of the streets behind them, the man ahead raised both hands in a warding gesture. Jiraiya's keen eyes noted bowmen in the windows overlooking the street. "Easy, easy. We just want to ask a question of two."

Now Jiraiya halted, and Naruto, unprepared, stumbled ahead several more steps before stopping himself. "Speak quickly, before I lose my patience."

"I'm the closest thing to a mayor this place has," the man said, "and one of my men has accused you two of being spies from the Leaf. I just want your word that if so, the Leaf aren't planning to invade." The man gazed carefully at Jiraiya. "If you are who you are said to be, then I will trust your word."

Naruto opened his mouth, but closed it as Jiraiya hissed "Keep quiet, boy." He then continued, much more loudly. "We are travelers, passing through on the way north. No more, no less."

The leader nodded. "Very well. Let them leave." As the men all about relaxed, another voice cried out in protest.

"He lies!" A man they had seen in the bar stumbled forward out of the crowd behind them half-drunkenly. "I know him," he said, pointing at Jiraiya. "He's from the Leaf." Jiraiya turned to face him, eyes narrowing.

The village headman shook his head. "And if he is who you say, you'd be wise to back down."

The angry man snorted, his hands beginning to form a clumsy seal. Jiraiya blinked. "You're a ninja?"

"A strong one!" the man boasted as his hands firmed, quickly moving through a series of imperfect seals, and he inhaled deeply. "Katon: Fireball Technique!" He released his breath, and a cone of weak fire escaped his lips.

Jiraiya moved rapidly, his hands forming a single seal. "Whirlwind Counter!" Instantly, the slight breeze that had been blowing all morning stiffened, and the spectators covered their eyes to escape the dust that was thrown up. The oncoming flames shuddered as the strengthening wind blew against them and reversed their course. The attacker stumbled back as they hit and fell to the ground, singed but not badly hurt.

Jiraiya turned back to the mayor. "If word were to reach the Leaf that this village sheltered its missing ninja, they would be less than pleased. It would be best if something were done about it before then."

The mayor nodded nervously. "I understand."

Jiraiya glanced down at Naruto. "Let's go, Naruto." The two left without further incident, though a large party followed after them until the village was no longer in eyeshot.

Once their escorts had left, Naruto turned to Jiraiya excitedly, his depression for the moment forgotten. "I want to learn that technique!" he said, his eyes bright with enthusiasm.

Jiraiya smiled to himself. No doubt the boy wanted it to counter the Uchiha kid's fire techniques - exactly the reason he had shown it to him. Jiraiya's smile was gone when he looked down at Naruto, though. "Not until you tell me why you lost," he said, though not unkindly.

Naruto's face fell, and for a moment Jiraiya feared he would once again sink into silence. Then the genin spoke. "It wasn't a mistake," he said stubbornly. For a long moment, he said no more, but then he continued. "I lost because I didn't want to kill him, and he wanted to kill me. That wasn't a mistake." Naruto paused again, and he swallowed nervously before looking up at Jiraiya, fear in his eyes. "It wasn't!" he said again, though now there was more than a little hint of a question in his voice.

Jiraiya looked sadly at the boy. It was a hard lesson, but one he had to learn. "Naruto," he said quietly. "Sasuke has made his choice. He went to Orochimaru of his own free will, knowing what it meant. I wish I could say otherwise, but you really might have no other choice but to kill him."

Naruto shook his head. "I promised Sakura-chan that I'd bring him back. That's what I'm going to do."

Jiraiya said nothing out loud, but inside his head he recited a string of vulgar curses. There had to be some way to stop Naruto from repeating the same mistakes he had made so many years ago. He had three years to find that way, and he swore to himself that he would not fail.

* * *

At a few minutes after noon, or precisely four hours late, Kakashi arrived at the bridge that had always been his team's meeting place. Sakura tried to summon up her usual fervor, but it just wasn't the same without Naruto's matching anger to play off of or without Sasuke watching in amusement or annoyance - it was always hard to tell with him. Instead, Sakura was forced to simply cross her arms and sigh in exasperation. "You're late, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi let out a clearly forced chuckle. "Ah, sorry, Sakura-chan. I got lost," he said before jumping down from his perch to the surface of the bridge. There was none of his usual humor in the statement, just the rote words. For him, too, it just was not the same. Team Seven could hardly be called a team now - a jounin teacher who was always away on constant high-rank missions and a single genin who would likely die quickly on any of those. Kakashi had planned to ask Tsunade to assign Sakura to one of the other teams, probably Asuma's, but the Hokage had made clear in their discussion that she would consider that dereliction of his duty.

She was right, he supposed. Despite it all, Sakura was his student, and the only one he had left. It was his duty to guide her and teach her as best he could, and so he was here. "You asked for me to meet you?" he said. "Why?" Tsunade had told him the answer, but he wanted to hear it from the girl's own lips. Only then could he tell whether she meant it, though he suspected she did. She wasn't the type to be content being left behind. Otherwise she would never have agreed to take the Chuunin Exam the first time, much less this second time.

None of his thoughts showed plainly enough on his masked face for Sakura to read. "You are my teacher, Kakashi-sensei. I want to learn from you."

"Why?" Kakashi pressed.

"I've always been protected," Sakura admitted, glancing downward. "Without Sasuke-kun and Naruto I'd..." She trailed off, then continued in a stronger voice. "When Sasuke-kun left, I wasn't able to anything but depend on everybody else." She clenched her fists. "I want to be strong too. I won't be a hindrance any longer."

"Good," Kakashi said. It was as Tsunade had said, after all. "Then, let's begin." The jounin leapt off the bridge, landing lightly on the water, where he stood as easily as he would on solid ground. "Tell me, Sakura-chan. Can you do this?"

Sakura frowned, considering. "It would work like the tree-climbing exercise, wouldn't it?" She instantly discarded that thought. "No, the water moves and changes. You couldn't just keep a constant amount of chakra. It would have to be a flow, at just the right strength." She closed her eyes in thought for a second, then jumped. When she landed before Kakashi, her right leg sank into the water, almost halfway to her knee, but she quickly adjusted her chakra flow and stood, if unsteadily, on the water's surface. She looked up at Kakashi. "I can."

Her teacher smiled beneath his mask. "Very good. You've always had excellent chakra control." Sakura smiled faintly at the praise, but the expression faded as Kakashi readied a kunai. "Now we're going to work on your speed and taijutsu."

"Wait!" Sakura protested. "We're going to do that here?" She gestured down at the water beneath them.

"Scared already, Sakura-chan?" Kakashi asked mockingly.

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she pulled out one of her own blades. "No."

Kakashi's smile widened, though she could not see. "Then, let's begin." Without hesitation, he flung his weapon at Sakura's throat.

Wasting time on a nervous gulp, Sakura flung herself to one side, parrying the oncoming blade with her own kunai. Unthinking, she stretched out her free hand to block her fall without channeling chakra, and fell into the lake with a startled cry. Moments later, she pulled herself back on top of the water, grimacing at her mistake.

Kakashi absentmindedly twirled his kunai, which he'd caught before it fell into the water. "Not good, Sakura-chan. Again." Without further warning, he threw his dagger a second time.

Once more, Sakura dodged and parried, but this time chakra filled her hand as it hit the water. She flipped over and regained her feet, her kunai once again interposed between herself and her teacher. "Better," Kakashi observed, two more kunai appearing in his hands. He jumped, the twin weapons darting from his hands as he reached the apex of his path.

Sakura lowered herself into a crouch. She couldn't parry both kunai at once. Even as her free hand went searching for another weapon, she launched her own kunai on a collision course with one of Kakashi's. The two crashed into each other, and Sakura leapt backward, the second weapon hitting the water harmlessly. She almost lost her footing as her feet struck the water again, but a quick correction of the chakra flow kept her on the surface.

Her eyes widened. Shuriken, coming in from the rear. Her left hand slipped out of her pouch, hurling several shuriken of her own blindly behind her. She raced forward, then darted to one side, spinning around as a kunai came to her hands. As she'd expected, a shuriken still flew toward her, and she easily swatted it aside, sending it tumbling into the lake.

Sakura frowned. She knew she couldn't keep this up too long. Sooner or later her chakra would run out. She had to get Kakashi to concede that she'd passed the exercise before then. How? The purpose was to improve her speed and taijutsu, so she'd have to demonstrate that. Best to try a counterattack, then.

During Sakura's musings, Kakashi had made several more attacks, all of which his student had easily dodged. His eye widened as Sakura suddenly ceased her slow retreat, charging across the surface of the water at him. Despite his apparent surprise, he reacted quickly, throwing three shuriken at the oncoming genin. Sakura jumped up as they neared, hurling a matching trio of shuriken at her teacher. Now it was Kakashi who parried and dodged, even as Sakura's forward charge turned into a circle around him. Sakura kept throwing shuriken, keeping the jounin busy even as the circle in turn changed into a spiral. Soon, her dagger was planted at his back. "Do I pass?" she asked.

Kakashi vanished in a burst of white smoke even as her kunai was wrenched from her hands and placed at her own back. "Not yet," he said, even as Sakura stared disbelieving at where his shadow replication had stood.

She groaned to herself. She'd used up a lot of her chakra already, any moment now she would... Her eyes narrowed suddenly as she released the chakra flow to her feet. Kakashi's eye widened again as she plunged into the water. Sakura swam beneath him, her hand reaching for her last kunai. If she came up behind him -

As she surfaced, Kakashi reached down lightning-fast, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the lake. "Interesting trick," he said after a moment, "but if you want to use it in a real fight we'll need to work on your swimming speed too." Kakashi released her, and Sakura was barely able to get her chakra flowing again in time to save herself from another dunk. "Now," Kakashi began, but whatever he was about to say was lost as a voice called from the bridge.

"Hey, Kakashi!" Maito Gai said, waving something in his hands.

Kakashi glanced up. "Ah, you're right on time," he said.

Gai froze, one of his powerful eyebrows twitching. Why, he'd given Kakashi a taste of his own medicine and showed up a full quarter of an hour late... but with this non-reaction, his rival had won another round! Still, eventually Gai smoothed the agitation off his face, oblivious to the half-puzzled, half-disgusted look on Sakura's face. "I brought what you asked for," he called out, tossing a pair of orange bundles to Kakashi. The other jounin caught them easily, but even he began to sink into the water before he strengthened his chakra flow to compensate.

"Those are," Sakura began, only to be interrupted by Gai.

"That's correct!" he said, far too loudly. "Those are the very first pair of weights I gave my Lee-kun to train with!" He grinned, and Sakura turned her eyes away from the painful brightness of his smile. "With them, you'll get stronger for certain!"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Thank you, Gai."

Gai's grin widened, a feat Sakura would have considered physically impossible. "It is nothing, to help such a beautiful young flower! In fact, I have another gift for you, Haruno-kun!" He whipped out a piece of folded green cloth and tossed it at Sakura, who unthinkingly caught it.

"This is..." she said quietly, twitching.

"Correct! It is my special training jumpsuit!" Gai gave Sakura a thumbs up. "Wear it with pride!"

Sakura winced, and Kakashi laughed weakly. "Ah, what do you say when someone gives you such a nice gift, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura glared at her teacher out of the corner of her eye. "You're cruel, Kakashi-sensei," she whispered, before forcing a smile to her face and speaking louder. "Thank you very much," she managed to get out, almost choking on the words.

Gai did not seem to notice her discomfort, saying "Train hard!" and walking off with a wave of his hand.

Sakura turned back to Kakashi. "You are not making me wear this," she said, no compromise in her voice. Kakashi shook his head franticly. Sakura dropped the jumpsuit, watching with relief as it sank into the water.

Kakashi coughed, all serious again, holding out the weights Gai had brought him. "Go put these on and replace your weapons," he said. Sakura's eyes widened in dawning horror as he continued. "Then we do this again, from the top."

* * *

**Day Four**

The valley they had camped in last night was a good place, Jiraiya thought. A small grove of trees hid the entrance from the nearest trail, and there was no other sign of human presence in the area. A small stream provided fresh water, and even in the short time they'd been here Jiraiya had seen enough animals to conclude that hunting would be easy, if necessary. He didn't expect to be here that long, but he knew that his plans could change. He needed to scout the area ahead, for they were nearing the Hill Country proper, and there would likely be foreign ninja about once they crossed the border. He hadn't been up this way since shortly after the peace with the Rock had been signed. Until he knew what sort of security the Hill Country had - in particular whether they were using only their native ninja or had hired some from the Rock - he wouldn't feel comfortable taking Naruto across the border. Knowing the boy, he'd manage to cause a major international incident if he wasn't properly prepared.

Naruto himself had no inkling of his teacher's thoughts as he ran through his usual morning series of simple exercises. The dark mood of the past few days had left him, and now he seemed as cheery as ever. It was as though Jiraiya's question had never been asked and answered. As he finished the last of his exercises he glanced at Jiraiya. "So, when are you going to teach me a new technique, Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya scratched his chin. "Maybe when you start calling me teacher instead of Ero-sennin," he said.

Naruto snorted. "Stop doing perverted things then, Ero-sennin."

Jiraiya sighed, even as he began to search through his packs. "Let's see," he said, pulling out two small pinwheels. He tossed one at Naruto, and it flew as swift and true as any kunai.

The younger ninja caught it, staring curiously. "What's this for?" he asked.

"You remember the technique I used yesterday?" Jiraiya asked. When Naruto nodded, he continued. "The first step of learning it is to rotate the pinwheel."

Naruto blinked, bringing the toy up before his face and blowing strongly. "There," he said.

Jiraiya slapped his face. "Not like that, idiot." He held his pinwheel out at arms length. "Like this." With no visible reason, the pinwheel began to rotate, slowly at first but then rapidly. "You have to learn how to manipulate the air with your chakra without using your hands."

Naruto extended his own pinwheel, frowning intently at it. Perhaps it twitched somewhat, but if so only the slightest amount. "Give me a hint!" he demanded.

Jiraiya sighed. "You'll have to figure it out on your own. You already know what you need to."

Naruto frowned at these words, then his eyes widened in realization. His stance shifted subtly, and his other hand came up to meet the pinwheel. There was a barely visible spark of blue chakra, and the toy began to spin.

Jiraiya only sighed. "Without your hands, Naruto. You really are a genius at missing the point."

"Well, what is the point, then?" Naruto asked irritably.

"The Whirlwind Counter works by using chakra to manipulate the wind and deflect your opponent's attack. To do it with the speed and strength to be useful, you have to use a seal to focus your chakra. That means that you can't just channel it through your hands like you do with the Rasengan." Jiraiya paused, glanced down at Naruto. "Pay attention!" he snapped, and the younger ninja started.

"I'm listening; I'm listening!" he said.

"Essentially," Jiraiya continued after a moment, "you have to learn to manipulate your chakra at a distance, rather than inside your body."

"How do I do that?"

Jiraiya smiled. "Concentration. Focus. Control." He laughed at the expression of dismay on his student's face, then turned away. "Bye," he said.

"Aren't you going to supervise me?" Naruto asked.

"I'm going to go scouting."

Naruto snorted. "Looking for women to spy on."

"Of course not!" Jiraiya protested as he vanished. Well, not at first, anyway. If he remembered his maps correctly, there was a small hot springs resort a few hours away near the main road. It would be dangerously negligent not to check it out, after all. And he'd heard that the Rock liked to use kunoichi for spying missions, so he'd have to focus on the womens' baths. Nothing wrong with that - even Tsunade would have to agree. Jiraiya nodded to himself. It would be a hard duty, but one he would perform willingly.

* * *

Sakura groaned as she rolled herself out of bed. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this drained, nor could she locate a part of her that didn't ache at least a little. A rebellious part of her wondered whether it was really so bad, just being a burden, and she relentlessly quashed it. She rose and nearly fell on her face when her foot met the leg weights, still bundled in the orange warmers, that she had left on the floor last night. As she stepped over them, she rubbed her legs where they had rested yesterday.

Her legs were nowhere near as thick as Lee's, and though the weights could be adjusted to compensate, they still had fit somewhat loosely on her bare legs and shifted uncomfortably every time she moved. She would have to wear pants with them, Sakura decided while she began to dress. After slipping on the mesh undershirt she wore under her dress in colder weather, she reached for a pair of black pants. The weights went over that, and she smiled as she confirmed that they fit better now. Her smile faded as she took a step forward and remembered precisely why she ached so much. Kakashi hadn't told her how much they weighed - he'd said it would only make it harder if she knew. He was probably right.

Her meeting with Kakashi was not for some hours yet, and though she had some things she wanted to do before then there was no need to rush. She took her time as she gathered her equipment. Her pants had pockets, so she was able to move some explosive tags from her pouch to them. She strapped three sheathed kunai to one leg. As she tested the arrangement to make sure she could reach everything swiftly, her reflection in the mirror caught her eye. Though the shirt she wore was opaque enough in the right places to not be precisely indecent, it was more than a little immodest. Sakura flushed slightly, and turned back to her closet.

After a few moments' search she uncovered a forest green light jacket, which she slipped on. It was a little warm for it, and the color combined with the orange weights reminded her uncomfortably of the atrocity of a jumpsuit Gai had gifted her with, but it would do for now. She turned back to the mirror, reaching for her forehead protector.

She stopped as she raised it to its normal position, then lowered it and placed it on her forehead. She frowned and shook her head. It might look better that way with this, but wearing it like that had a special meaning for her. It would wait until she had surpassed Ino for good, not merely equaled her in one fight. She raised the forehead protector again and tied it into its normal position. After one last look in the mirror, she slipped out of her room and out of the house, thankfully without seeing her mother.

It was indeed still a bit too warm to be wearing a jacket, but though Sakura sweated now, she knew that in the coming weeks that would no longer be a concern. She easily threaded her way down familiar streets toward her destination. It lay only a block or two from the ninja academy building that not too long ago she had headed most mornings around this time. Even had she not known the route by heart, the village library was easy enough to spot - it was built of heavy gray stone, unlike most of the rest of the village, to reduce the risk of a fire that would destroy the often irreplaceable scrolls.

Once she stepped inside, she was thankful for her jacket, for she shivered even under it. Across from the entryway, a thin woman in a chuunin's uniform looked up from her desk and gazed at her with eerie silver-white eyes. "Haruno Sakura-kun," she said after a moment. "Genin, Team Seven. It's been a little while. You still remember the seals?"

"Ah - yes, Hyuuga-san," Sakura told the librarian as she stepped forward. "If they haven't changed, that is." The Hyuuga shook her head, and Sakura walked past the desk and into the main library. This was the largest section, the one that was open to the entire village. She had spent many afternoons here after classes, but the information she sought was not likely to be found here. Instead she headed for a stairway in the back.

Down the stairs was a hallway with three doors - the jounin, chuunin, and genin libraries. Characters were painted in red on each of the doors, barring them to any who did not know how to open them. She stopped in front of the door to the genin library, quickly running through a set of seals and placing her hand in a circle in the center of the door. She channeled a quick chakra flow into the door, and it opened silently. She stepped inside, and the door shut itself behind her. The room was empty, as she had expected this early in the morning.

Sakura gazed around the room, reminding herself as to the locations of the various sections among the poorly labeled stacks. After checking those labels to make sure they hadn't been reorganized, Sakura headed for the scrolls on foreign ninja. Digging in those scrolls uncovered a couple of dusty works labeled as "Rice Field Country" - clearly they hadn't been of much interest to genin in recent years. Sakura suspected that there were rather more, and more recently used, scrolls on the subject in the chuunin and jounin libraries, though those would mostly be recent reports on the Sound Village. That probably wouldn't help her right now.

Sakura made her way over to one of the wooden tables scattered about the room and seated herself, unrolling the first scroll. It turned out to be a history of the Rice Field Country's revolt against the Wood Country over two hundred years ago - not likely to be of much use. A quick skim of the first section uncovered several mentions of the Fuuma Clan, and Sakura raised an eyebrow. That would mean that the Fuuma were older than the Leaf Village. Interesting, but hardly relevant.

Setting the history aside, Sakura turned to the other scroll. The title proved promising - "Clans of the Rice Field" - though it seemed to be two decades out of date. Sakura quickly unrolled it until she reached the section on the Fuuma Clan and began to read. She skipped the fairly lengthy history at the beginning of the section, and only skimmed the two columns listing known Fuuma Clan strongholds and their estimated strength at the time of the writing. Then she came upon what she was looking for - signature techniques of the Fuuma Clan.

The author noted the tendency of the Fuuma Clan's unique techniques to use pure chakra offensively, suggesting that they were difficult to learn and very draining on the user. This was followed by a brief listing of techniques, of which for most little more was known than a name and a sentence of description. It was almost at the end of the section that Sakura found something useful.

"...Rice Field Occupation Commander Hyuuga Nizomi reported an attack by a Fuuma jounin utilizing an unusual suicide assassination technique which synchronized the user and target's chakra circulatory systems, promising death of the target upon suicide of the user. Backlash from the severing of the link lead to death of the assassin from burnt out chakra circulatory system, preventing useful dissection of the corpse."

It wasn't much, but it proved that what Sakura sought existed. She doubted that this Hyuuga Nizomi had access to the Fuuma Clan's charms, so he had clearly found a way to sever the chakra threads Kagerou had used on Naruto without them. Sakura didn't know if she'd ever face that technique again, but the principle behind any counter would likely be useful to deal with similar techniques. Besides, Tsunade had told her to return once she would not have been useless on that mission, right? Knowing the secret to the Fuuma Clan's chakra threads would certainly qualify for that standard.

Sakura sighed, standing. She had no more time for further research now. Knowing her luck, if she lost track of time in here, it would be the one time Kakashi arrived on time for a meeting. She gathered up the two scrolls and carefully replaced them. She headed for the door, which from this side could be opened normally. She did so, and raced up the stairs to the main library room. There she slowed herself back to a walking speed, frowning in thought as she considered what path her research might take next.

As Sakura passed her, the librarian spoke. "Did you find what you were looking for, Haruno-kun?" she asked.

Sakura started, and turned back to the Hyuuga. "Not quite," she said as an idea came to her, "but perhaps you can help me, Hyuuga-san. Do you know of a Hyuuga Nizomi?"

The librarian blinked. "He was my grandfather, but he died when I was young. Why?" Sakura apologized, briefly explaining her situation, and the librarian frowned. "I can't help you with that specifically, but the Hyuuga have a saying. Whatever is made from chakra, can be destroyed by chakra." The librarian paused. "We usually have to use the Byakugan to figure out how, though, so I doubt it helps you much."

"Still, I thank you for your help," Sakura said, bowing.

"You're welcome," the Hyuuga answered with a nod, and Sakura turned and left the library.

* * *

**Day Five**

Panting heavily, Sakura forced her arm to move and block yet another kunai her teacher had thrown. How did Kakashi-sensei carry so many weapons? He had to have thrown several dozen and showed no signs of worrying about running out. In fact, another pair had already appeared in his hands as he circled his student. The first Sakura dodged, even hindered as she was by the weights on her legs. The second came in on too good a trajectory for her to get out of the way in time. Sakura interposed her own kunai - her last - knocking the oncoming weapon out of the way.

Even before it reached the water's surface she flung herself to one side. As a bandaged cut on her arm attested, she had discovered yesterday that Kakashi knew how to use a variation on the Shadow Shuriken Technique with kunai, hiding a second blade in the first's shadow. As she hit the water's surface, instinctively channeling chakra through her side to keep from slipping beneath it, the hidden projectile sped by.

Sakura forced herself to leap to her feet, ignoring the numerous aches and pains trying to convince her it was better to lay still. She had thought that the first day's training had been tough and the second even tougher; this third day was proving worse than the previous two combined. Even worse then the pain of such continuous exertion at her limits was the feeling that she wasn't making progress. Ever since she had started wearing the training weights, it had been all she could do to defend herself. Trying to replicate her failed offensive from the first training session seemed so far beyond her as leaping to the moon. Yet, she was convinced that she would have to do that - successfully - to pass this exercise.

She had not let her musings distract her from Kakashi, who had been narrowing his circle around her. He was inching closer, so he could be in range for a quick charge before she realized it. It took an effort not to grin. That was what she had been waiting for all morning. She had come up with an idea while her pains had kept her awake in bed. It might not work, but anything was better than simply staying on the defensive. Kakashi hurled a few shuriken, which Sakura easily dealt with, taking care to make sure her dodges moved her closer to her teacher while keeping the movements natural-seeming.

There. Even as Kakashi began to move forward, Sakura flung her kunai. As the weapon left her hands, they raced into a sequence of seals, dredging up chakra that Sakura had carefully kept in reserve. The oncoming weapon slowed Kakashi only slightly, as he grabbed it in midair, flipping it around and sending it back at the kunoichi. Sakura didn't move, instead concentrating on the seals. The dagger struck her between the eyes, and she screamed.

Kakashi didn't slow in his charge, as Sakura had expected. He ran straight through the image of Sakura, even as it dissolved into water. It had taken Sakura a lot of her chakra to mold water into the right form for the replacement technique, but she knew that she had enough left for her purposes. Kakashi quickly located her, and he didn't even have to dodge the handful of shuriken she threw. "I assume those weren't supposed to hit," he commented.

Sakura - or rather, Sakura's replication - vanished in a puff of smoke. The real Sakura burst from the water behind Kakashi, a dud explosive tag flinging from her hands. Kakashi whirled around, easily shredding the explosive seal with a thrown shuriken, but when Sakura landed shakily on her feet, using the last of her chakra to keep herself above the water, he made no move to attack.

"Clever," he said after a moment. "You might as well have shouted out what you were planning by doing the seals like that, though. You should try to make sure your opponent can't see them or at least form them faster when you're performing common techniques like that."

Sakura nodded wearily. "Right," she said.

"Still, most genin wouldn't have been able to figure it out and devise a counter in time," the jounin continued. "I think we can move on, now." He glanced at Sakura feet, which were beginning to sink. "Let's get out of the water first, though."

When they were back on the bridge, Kakashi gave his student several moments to catch her breath. Sakura shivered, the chill from her immersion in the lake overcoming the late-summer heat. She picked her jacket up off the bridge where she had left it and put it back on, for once thankful for its warmth, and sat down. She felt like she could sleep for a week. However, all too soon for Sakura's taste, she had replaced her weapons from the spares she had brought and was standing before her teacher on a nearby training ground. "What next?" she forced herself to ask, struggling to keep her weariness from her voice.

"This technique is chuunin-level," Kakashi began. "You'll have to commit most of your chakra to it for it to work, but it should lend itself to your strengths. Watch carefully." Sakura nodded, and he slowly worked through a set a seals, which seemed to be a variation on the seals for replications. "Perfect Replication Technique," he breathed, and in an instant four Kakashi's stood before Sakura. Three of them began to circle around behind her, while the fourth spoke. "Try to break out of the circle."

Sakura forced herself to nod, her mind already racing with possibilities. Ordinary replications like she'd used earlier on Kakashi had no real substance to them, which was why she'd thrown the replicated shuriken wide of Kakashi. In that case, as soon as she figured out which of the four was the real Kakashi, it would be trivial to escape. On the other hand, she knew Naruto's shadow replications could attack and do real damage. If these "perfect replications" worked like them, the tactics she would use on ordinary replications would be foolhardy. It would be best to try to disrupt the clones first.

Four shuriken appeared in Sakura's hand and she spun about, releasing them in one smooth motion. The weapons flew straight and true, but each Kakashi easily parried them with a kunai. Sakura frowned. So the perfect replications did have substance. That was to be expected from the name of the technique, she supposed. The replications ought to be weaker than the real Kakashi, though. If she could concentrate on one she might be able to get a blow in to disrupt it.

But how to tell which was the real Kakashi, and which were the clones? Her teacher didn't seem inclined to take the offensive, so Sakura took her time, slowly spinning around and searching for any type of discrepancy in the Kakashis. To her despair, they all seemed to be identical. Would she just have to guess? There was a three-in-four chance of getting a clone, after all.

"That's enough of a grace period," one Kakashi said suddenly. In unison, each Kakashi drew a kunai, and prepared to throw it.

Sakura tensed, plucking one of her own blades out of its sheath and grabbing four shuriken with her other hand. This was going to be unpleasant, particularly since she was already tired and had the weights slowing her down. Dodging wasn't going to be very effective; she'd have to try and knock all the weapons out of the air.

As one, the four Kakashis attacked, hurling their blades with expert accuracy. Sakura reacted instantly. Her kunai she sent at one Kakashi. She shifted half the shuriken over to her now free hand even as she threw the other half at the two weapons coming at her from the front. She spun about, hearing the clatter of colliding weapons. The last two shuriken left her hands, hitting the remaining two kunai mere seconds before they would have hit her.

Panting heavily, Sakura forced herself to draw her second kunai. The four copies of her teacher slowly readied their own kunai, and Sakura forced herself to think. There had to be some trick. What had -

The kunoichi forced herself not to blink as she realized something. What had happened to the kunai she had thrown? She glanced about, not finding it at first. Then, as the Kakashi she had thrown it out prepared his own throw, she saw it, lying on the ground far behind him. It was as though it had... passed directly through him. Sakura dropped her kunai, bringing her hands up before her face in a seal. "Release!" she shouted, channeling chakra she hadn't known she still had.

For an instant, the two Kakashi she could see wavered, but then snapped back into reality. Still, it was enough. Ignoring the kunai those two threw, she ran forward as quickly as she could. She could hear the other two coming up behind her, but she made it out of the circle before they could catch up, running through one Kakashi. She noticed, not to her surprise, the shuriken she had thrown during the exercise scattered about the training ground. She couldn't say for sure, but she guessed that only a handful had actually hit anything solid.

"Good," came Kakashi's voice, and Sakura turned around. Only one Kakashi remained. "You noticed my mistake."

Sakura nodded. "The kunai."

"Despite the name, this technique isn't a replication technique or even a ninjutsu. It's a genjutsu." Kakashi waited, as though for a comment.

"So the... fake replications don't have any substance, like a normal replication, but you can make it look like they do," Sakura said. Hadn't those ninja from Hidden Rain in the chuunin exams had a technique that worked a little like that?

"If you're good enough," Kakashi continued, "you can fool your opponent's sense of touch as well. You have to be very careful how you let the clones interact with real things, though. Once someone realizes that it's only a genjutsu, it's almost worthless."

After a moment, Sakura nodded.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "Then, let's begin."

* * *

**Day Six**

Naruto stared at the pinwheel with no small amount of frustration. Yesterday, he'd thought that he'd gotten it when he managed to move the pinwheel by channeling chakra through the stem. When he'd showed it to Jiraiya, though, the old ninja had once again berated him for missing the point. Now, the pinwheel was propped up between two conveniently placed stones, and Naruto lay on the ground before it, his face mere inches away from the vanes of the toy.

"Stupid old pervert," Naruto muttered, blowing on the pinwheel distractedly. He'd hardly seen Jiraiya the past two days, as the old hermit was out scouting for enemies - or at least, so he claimed. Naruto was certain he was doing perverted things instead. He was slightly vague on what, precisely, those perverted things might entail, but that didn't shake his conviction the slightest amount. Of course, just about anyone who knew Jiraiya would agree with the boy.

Why couldn't the pervert actually teach him something for once, instead of just setting up a task and waiting for him to figure it out on his own? It was such a waste of time doing things this way. If he actually had a real teacher, Naruto was certain he could have learned two - no, three - techniques already. Maybe even four. It was all Jiraiya's fault that he was still stuck on this one.

After a few more moments of silent griping, Naruto forced himself to begin. What had the old pervert said was needed? "Concentration. Focus. Control," he muttered to himself as he remembered Naruto closed his eyes, trying to ignore the occasional chirping of birds from the trees that surrounded him. He imagined the infuriatingly still pinwheel in perfect detail, until it almost seemed he could feel it like a part of his body. In his mind, the toy began to spin, and he felt the air moving through its vanes.

Slowly, Naruto opened his eyes. For a moment, he thought he saw the pinwheel twitch, but it remained unmoving. Naruto growled. "Stupid Ero-sennin. I am concentrating." He blew on the pinwheel again, and it moved under his breath. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't make even the tiniest bit of his chakra manifest itself away from his body. If only there was some way to just mold the chakra inside of him like he did normally and then push it outside.

Naruto frowned at the thought. Why couldn't he do that? Acting on impulse, he took in a deep breath, already concentrating his chakra. He only blew softly at first, but the pinwheel rotated as though it was in a windstorm. When Naruto let the rest of his breath out in one blast, it blew the toy out from between the rocks that propped it up. Laughing, Naruto jumped to his feet. Now for the full technique. Which seal had it been?

As the answer came to him, Naruto was already pulling in an even deeper breath. He formed the seal and released his breath, shouting "Whirlwind Counter!" His own breath sounded in his ears like the wind roaring, and the leaves of a tree almost ten feet away rustled in it. Naruto laughed again. "Take that, you old pervert!" he said, dancing in celebration and flashing a victory sign to no one in particular.

His impromptu victory celebration ended suddenly as he heard the sound of footsteps approaching from the road. It was at least two people, so it wasn't likely Jiraiya returning. Naruto dove into a nearby bush - not a moment too soon, as shortly afterwards four men passed the trees that hid where Naruto had been practicing from the road.

All four wore brown, thick jackets that looked terribly hot to Naruto. Evidently, they agreed with him, as all but one man had left the jacket open, revealing the dark clothing and light armor they wore underneath. That wasn't what caught Naruto's eyes, however. All four wore forehead protectors. Naruto didn't recognize the symbol on them - a simple line that dipped steeply downward in the center. It certainly wasn't one he'd seen at the Chuunin Exam - while Naruto might have been hard pressed to recall the names of the villages that had participated, he could remember their symbols well enough.

The Leaf genin held himself perfectly still as the foreign ninja glanced about the clearing. Fortunately, the campground Jiraiya had set up was out of sight, further back in the valley, and the ninja didn't seem inclined to search thoroughly. "I told you there was nothing here," the ninja with the closed jacket said irritably, already turning back toward the road.

"I thought I heard something," one of the other three said, glancing around casually. Naruto resisted the urge to shrink back into the bush, knowing that would make his position obvious.

"What's that?" another ninja said, pointing at the ground. The last man bent down, picking up the pinwheel that only minutes ago had been the focus of Naruto's ire.

"It's just a toy," he said, casually tossing it into underbrush.

The ninja who had claimed to hear something frowned. "Where'd it come from? That village is still a pretty good distance away."

"Who cares?" the ninja with the closed jacket said. "It's not like those snakes would be carrying around children's toys."

"I guess you're right," the other ninja admitted, and as quickly as they had come the four men left. Naruto waited several moments to make sure they had truly left, then let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and slipped out of the bushes. That had been -

"Well, wasn't that interesting?" Naruto started in surprise as Jiraiya stepped out from behind a tree that seemed far too thin to hide him.

"You were watching?" Naruto asked as soon as he recovered his composure.

Jiraiya nodded. "Go pack up the campsite. It's time for us to get moving."

"What? Why?"

"Those were ninja from the Hidden Village of the Valley, in Hill Country," Jiraiya said, "and from the way they were talking it seems like they've been fighting Sound ninja. I'd like to get over the border before this area becomes a war zone."

"War?" Naruto asked quietly.

"If the Valley and the Sound are fighting, Tsunade's going to have to send ninja to at least secure the border. There will be more than a few skirmishes with Valley and Sound. It wouldn't take a lot to escalate things to a war - Waterfall is almost certain to raid the Hill Country no matter what - but most likely everybody will back down before that. No one wants another Great War." Jiraiya paused. "Now, get packing."

Naruto began to head to the campsite, then turned back suddenly. "Did you see me doing the technique?" he asked.

Jiraiya blinked. "You already learned it?" Naruto demonstrated, and Jiraiya laughed. "You really are a genius at missing the point, boy." Naruto glowered at him, and Jiraiya laughed again. "Still, that's a useful little trick you've developed. It isn't really the Whirlwind Counter, though. It'll deflect an attack, but you haven't got anywhere near enough control to throw it back in your opponent's face." Jiraiya pondered for an instant. "Call it the Whirlwind Shield, I guess."

Naruto began to celebrate the naming of his new technique, then paused. "What technique are you going to teach me next?" he demanded, and Jiraiya laughed yet again.

"Don't you have packing to do, boy?"

* * *

"My, my," Yamanaka Ino said, looking up from the counter, "If it weren't for your unique forehead I'm afraid I wouldn't recognize you in that... outfit. Have you forgotten everything I ever taught you, Sakura?"

Sakura's eyebrow twitched. "It's a good thing you spoke. Otherwise I might have called for someone to get the pig out before it ate all your mother's flowers, Ino."

Ino grinned evilly. "So I'm not a pig, Forehead? So nice of you to admit it."

Sakura could feel a growl and an angry retort growing in her throat, but with with great effort she forced them down. She didn't have time for this. It wasn't too much longer until Kakashi would have to leave on another mission. Why waste time getting into a fight with Ino when she could be training? "I'm not in the mood for this," she said after a moment, turning back to the door. "I probably shouldn't have come." She stalked out of the Yamanaka Flower Store, already fuming. It certainly was a bad idea, just as she'd thought. She couldn't even spend five minutes with Ino without losing her temper. Five days would be unbearable.

Sakura had barely made it halfway down the street when she heard Ino's footsteps behind her. "Sakura! Wait up!" Almost against her will, Sakura slowed, and moments later Ino walked beside her, catching her breath.

"What about the store?" Sakura asked after a moment.

"My mom is taking care of it," Ino said. "What did you want to talk about?" The two of them turned down another street, unthinkingly heading to one of the Leaf Village's numerous small parks.

"How is Chouji doing?" Sakura asked. That would be the easiest way to lead into what she wanted to - or thought she wanted to, maybe - talk about.

Ino hesitated. "Fine, I guess." She paused again. "I don't think that's what you wanted to talk about, though."

Sakura was forced to shake her head. Still, she couldn't bring herself to actually ask the question. Ino and she walked in silence for several more moments until stopping in front of the park they hadn't realized was their destination. From not far away, they heard the sound of students being released from the academy for the day. "Well?" Ino finally pressed.

"Are Chouji and you planning to take the Chuunin Exam again?" Sakura managed to ask.

Ino's eyes widened. "It has been almost six months, hasn't it?" Ino frowned. "Who's holding them? I remember hearing last time that the Sound were supposed to host the next one since they'd just joined the alliance. I don't think that'll happen now," she said with a weak laugh.

"Hokage-sama told me that we were holding them again," Sakura answered.

"I guess that makes sense, since it got interrupted last time," Ino said. "Well, I guess we might. I don't see why Asuma-sensei wouldn't sponsor us again. We'd need a -" Ino cut off suddenly, her eyes widening again. "You aren't serious, Sakura."

Sakura smiled grimly. "There are only two of you, and I don't have a team at all. I don't like the idea either, but it's the obvious solution."

"What about Naruto?" Ino asked. There was no need to ask about the third member of Team Seven, of course. Both of them knew what had happened to him, and neither had any desire to speak to the other about it. That conversation would be far too likely to shatter the fragile almost-truce that had existed between them since the last chuunin exams.

"He's away on a long mission," Sakura said, the half-lie already feeling comfortable from so much repetition since Naruto had left. "He won't be back for the Exam."

Ino raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't comment. After several silent seconds, she spoke. "I don't know. I'll have to ask Chouji, of course."

"Of course," Sakura repeated. "But what about you?"

"I'll think about it," Ino said curtly. "You should be glad I'm even considering it, Forehead."

"You should be grateful to have the opportunity of having me on your team, Ino-pig," Sakura retorted. Ino snorted, but whatever she might have said in reply was lost as another voice cut in.

"Sakura-chan!"

For just an instant, Sakura almost thought that it was Naruto calling her name, but when she turned around she instead saw a smaller, dark-haired boy waving at her. It took her a moment to identify him, as he had grown more than a little since she'd last seen him. "Inari-kun?" Her eyes raised, and she noticed the older man standing behind the boy. "Tazuna-san?"

"Who're they?" Ino asked, her growing irritation instantly replaced by curiosity.

"Tazuna-san is a bridge-builder from the Wave Country," Sakura answered. "He was the client for our first real mission."

Tazuna coughed, almost embarrassed. "Actually, I haven't had time for bridge-building lately. I was sort of elected mayor of our village after you left."

"Sort of elected?" Ino said.

"Nobody suggested any other candidates," Tazuna admitted, "so they didn't actually hold a vote."

"Congratulations, Tazuna-san," Sakura said. "What brings you here?"

"My prior connections convinced the daimyo of the Wave Country that I was perfect to carry a message to the Hokage," Tazuna answered. "And Inari wanted to come along to see you three."

Inari grinned widely. "Where are Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun?"

Ino and Sakura shared a look, and Tazuna's eyes grew worried. "They aren't in the village right now," Sakura finally said, glancing down at Inari.

Ino saw the questions on Tazuna's face and sighed. Mouthing "You owe me one," to Sakura, she knelt down before the young boy. "Hello, Inari-kun. I'm Yamanaka Ino, one of Sakura's friends. Would you like to go see the ninja academy?" Inari nodded eagerly, his question forgotten for the moment, and Ino lead him off.

As soon as as the two were out of earshot, Tazuna asked, "Are they all right?"

"I'm not sure how much I can say." Sakura paused, carefully considering her words. "Naruto's left on a mission."

"And Sasuke-kun?" Tazuna pressed gently.

Though there hadn't been any explicit orders, Hokage-sama had made it clear enough to the genin who knew of Sasuke's defection that she expected them to keep quiet. "He's not dead, but beyond that I really shouldn't say," Sakura managed to say after a moment, but she couldn't keep her voice steady.

"I understand," Tazuna said quietly. He continued, louder, "Let's go find Inari and your friend. I'm afraid I'm already late for my appointment with the Hokage. I must have misheard the gate guards' directions."

Sakura nodded, relieved at the change of subject. "I have enough time to show you the way before I have to meet with Kakashi-sensei."

* * *

**Day Seven**

The first day inside the Hill Country had been more than enough to convince Jiraiya that the ninja of the Hidden Village of the Valley were preparing for war. Five times today he had been forced to hide from patrols. Normally, this would have been no problem, but now he had Naruto with him. While the boy had proved better at evading the enemy ninja than he had feared, he was nowhere near good enough to escape the notice of the sort of search that seemed to be going on all along the Hill Country's borderlands on his own.

The one bit of good news came from what Jiraiya had overheard when he'd risked getting close enough to eavesdrop on one of the patrols. It was indeed the Sound that they expected war with, not the Leaf. Of course, if the patrols found Jiraiya and Naruto, it wouldn't make any difference. While they might not be planning to invade the Fire Country now, the ninja of the Hill Country bore the Leaf no love. His thoughts reminded him that he had not explained the situation to his charge.

Naruto was seat not far away, chewing on the remnants of his cold dinner and quietly grumbling about not being allowed to start a fire and make ramen. Jiraiya sighed, and gestured for him to come nearer. "Do you understand why we can't start a fire?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto frowned in thought. "Because you're evil?" he ventured after a moment.

Jiraiya, proving - to himself, at least - that he was truly a saint at heart, resisted the urge to hit the boy. "Idiot. How far away do you think a fire could be seen on a clear night like tonight? We're trying to hide."

Naruto laughed loudly. "Oh, I knew that," he said.

The older ninja wasn't terribly certain of that, but decided it wasn't worth the effort to press the issue. "It's very important that those Valley ninja don't find out that we are Leaf ninja if they discover us."

"Why would they care?" Naruto asked.

"Because the Valley and the Waterfall are always near war," Jiraiya said.

"So?"

Jiraiya sighed. "You do know that the Waterfall are one of the Leaf's allies, right?"

Naruto frowned, then suddenly nodded. "There were some ninja from there at the Exam."

"Back before the last war," Jiraiya began, "the Waterfall were part of the Hidden Village of Rock's alliance, along with the Valley and some other small villages from farther north. Once the Sand and Rain signed the alliance with the Leaf and Grass villages, though, the Waterfall switched sides. In order to secure the routes between the Earth and Fire Countries, the Valley and Rock ninja seized almost half of Waterfall Country. The Waterfall have been trying to get it back ever since."

"What does that have to do with us?" Naruto asked as soon as he realized Jiraiya considered the history lesson finished.

"Think for once, boy," Jiraiya said. "The Leaf are allies of the Waterfall. If the Valley ninja find out that we're Leaf ninja, they'll think we're here to support a Waterfall attack."

"Oh," Naruto said, realization dawning on his face. "So, if we aren't Leaf ninja, what are we then?"

Jiraiya grinned. "I am an itinerant hermit, of course, and you are my dutiful apprentice, willing to put up with any hardship to learn the wisdom of the gods at my feet." His grin widened at the expression on Naruto's face, and even Naruto's resumed grumblings as he returned to his supper did not make it fade.

Some time later, as Naruto saw to setting up the tent amidst a new round of mumbled protests, the grin did vanish, replaced by dead seriousness. "Quiet, boy," he snapped. "These fine ninja don't need to hear your whining."

Four figures emerged from the darkness, wearing Valley ninja uniforms. "You have good ears, to hear us," one of them, a woman with a long scar running alongside her nose, said. One of the men behind her pushed back his jacket with exaggerated casualness, resting his hand on the hilt of a sheathed katana. The other two slowly began to circle around the camp.

"One must, to hear the voices of the gods," Jiraiya said, bowing deeply.

One of the two circling ninja, who had already reached the tent, laughed. "A traveling priest, huh?" Naruto slowly backed away from the Valley ninja, resisting the urge to reach for a weapon. "Which gods do you serve?"

"The Lord of All Toads, Gamabunta," Jiraiya answered smoothly, his eyes never leaving the woman before him. Naruto barely managed to choke back the startled laugh that comment threatened to draw from him. The other circling ninja noticed his sudden discomfort and drew nearer.

"A strange god," the woman said.

"Even the strangest god requires servants, my lady," Jiraiya replied.

"You won't mind if we search this camp," she said, and it was clear that it was a statement of fact, not a question.

"Of course not, my lady," Jiraiya said.

She gestured, and the man behind her relaxed slightly, though his hand didn't leave his sword. One of the other two ninja ducked inside the tent. Only moments later he emerged, something dangling from his hand. The moonlight glinted off metal - a forehead protector. He raised it to catch the moonlight, revealing the Leaf insignia and the diagonal scratch that marred it.

Naruto exploded into action without thinking, shouting, "Give that back!" The ninja in front of him stepped sideways blocking his lunge.

"Leaf missing ninja, huh?" the woman asked, her eyes narrowing. "Working with the snakes, no doubt."

Jiraiya carefully considered his options, then sighed. "I suppose," he said. His hand darted forward with surprising speed. "Rasengan!" The woman was flung backward against a large boulder, and did not rise.

The man behind her's sword flew from his sheath as he charged Jiraiya, cutting the old ninja in two with a single perfect slice. As the two halves fell to the ground they vanished in puffs of smoke, replaced by a neatly divided piece of wood. The Valley ninja didn't seem surprised at this, whirling about and knocking aside a thrown kunai with his katana. He advanced on Jiraiya again, more cautiously this time.

"Shadow Replication Technique!" Naruto's cry echoed across the battlefield. Two clones tackled the ninja in front of him, while the remaining three charged the last ninja. One managed to grab the dangling forehead protector as it sped past, slipping it into a pocket. Moments later, the four clones attacking the Valley ninja vanished, disrupted by the inevitable counterattacks.

The closer ninja drew a kunai and advanced on Naruto, who summoned another set of four replications. Even as three distracted the ninja, the last began to help Naruto form a Rasengan. The oncoming ninja bowled through the clones, leaving puffs of smoke in his wake. The last replication followed suit as the Rasengan took form, and Naruto charged.

The Leaf genin grinned as he felt himself make contact, but when the Rasengan faded away his eyes widened. The enemy ninja had leapt back in time to avoid the strike. All Naruto had accomplished was blowing a fairly impressive, if pointless, hole in the rock wall that had risen from the earth to block his path. Farther back, Naruto saw the other Valley ninja kneeling, both hands pressed firmly against the ground.

That ninja's hands raised briefly, racing through a set of seals before plunging back to the ground. Even as the wall before him crumbled into a pile of dirt, Naruto was forced to jump backwards as the ground under his feet exploded into a shower of shards. Naruto could feel the ground shudder when he landed. He leapt again, mere seconds before another explosion.

Naruto reached for a kunai, hurling it at the kneeling ninja. The other Valley ninja knocked it out of the air with his own kunai, drawing a katana as he charged Naruto. The genin leapt out of the path of his strike, but before he landed the ground beneath him burst. The force of the blast knocked him into the side of a rocky rise in the ground. He shook his head, stunned by the blow.

His standing opponent drew closer quickly, raising his blade for a finishing blow. Before it could land, Jiraiya seemed to appear out of nowhere between the two, a Rasengan already spinning in one hand. Before the enemy ninja's eyes had finished widening in surprise, Jiraiya had slammed it into his chest. The Valley ninja spiraled rapidly through the air, landing next to his comrade.

The last enemy raised his hands again, shakily forming seals. Jiraiya's eyes narrowed, and he too began to run through a set of seals, his hands blurring with the speed of movement. "Doton: Hell Swamp!"

The Valley ninja leapt backwards out of his crouch, but not far enough. The ground rippled where he landed. He began to sink as the dirt turned into mud. The man tried futilely to escape, but the quagmire had already ensnared his legs. He sank up to his neck in the muck, and no matter how much he struggled he could not wrench himself free.

"Go pack up the tent," Jiraiya said sharply to Naruto, as he made another set of seals. The earth around them began to harden as he finished, slowly returning to normal.

Naruto stuttered for a moment, but one look at the older ninja's eyes was enough to prove that he was in no mood for discussion, even to Naruto. After a moment, he rose, leaping over the still soft ground to the tent. Wordlessly, he began to disassemble it.

Jiraiya walked across the mud as though it were solid rock, pausing only to deliver a sharp blow to the trapped ninja, knocking him unconscious. "We've got a long way to go tonight," Jiraiya said. "If we're lucky, the Valley ninja will take the hint, but I wouldn't count on it."

Naruto looked up. "What do you mean?"

"We didn't kill anyone. That's a sign that we're not really interested in fighting them," Jiraiya answered. "It's generally better to be safe, though, so once this patrol reports back this area will be crawling with ninja looking for us. I want to be well away by the time that happens." Jiraiya sent a glare Naruto's way. "And while we're traveling, we're going to have a long talk about what it means to be operating undercover."

* * *

Tsunade stared at the paperwork as though she could make it vanish through sheer force of will. Actually, of course, with the application of enough chakra in the right way, she probably could. However, then Shizune would just give her more paperwork. It would probably be paperwork about the mysteriously vanishing paperwork crisis.

Shizune herself wasn't here right now, having left earlier this evening to supervise a surgery at the hospital. Tsunade wished she'd been able to convince Shizune to switch places, but her assistant had developed some odd hangups since they'd returned to the Leaf Village. For one, Shizune absolutely refused to forge Tsunade's signature anymore, no matter how many times she gave permission, and some of the documents required the Hokage to sign off on them.

It actually probably would have surprised Shizune, but Tsunade actually had been making some progress on the paperwork, even without a watchful pair of eyes over her shoulder. While she would have taken any excuse to do something more interesting, she did take her duties somewhat seriously. As pointless as it sometimes seemed, she knew she'd have to do the paperwork eventually.

As she scrawled her name at the bottom of the invitation to the Hidden Village of Grass to send genin to the next Chuunin Exam, thankfully the last of the set, Tsunade's ears perked up at the sound of someone moving down the hallway outside her office. As she heard the muffled sound of conversation from outside, she shoved the academy's budget request for next season - the next piece of paperwork on her list - aside.

After a moment, one of her guards opened the door and stuck his head in the office. "Special Jounin Mitarashi Anko to see you, Hokage-sama."

"Send her in," Tsunade said, and a moment later the younger woman stood before, a stuffed folder tucked under one arm.

"You were supposed to come by for your next mission assignment this afternoon, Anko-chan," Tsunade said.

"Ah, sorry, Tsunade-sama," Anko apologized, scratching the back of her head. "One of the prisoners started to talk, and Ibiki wanted me there." Her hand dropped slightly, than rapidly fell to her side as she realized where she'd begun to rub.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "One of those two? Anything interesting?"

"It's all in here," Anko said, letting the folder fall onto Tsunade's desk. "We found out why it's been so hard to find the Sound Village, at least."

"Oh?" Tsunade asked.

"It's mobile," Anko continued. "He's worked out some kind of crazy summoning technique that lets him summon a fortress anywhere he wants. He might even have more than one of them."

"That explains a few things," Tsunade said, picking up the folder and casually flipping through it before setting it aside and rifling through the papers on her desk. "Here we go," she said after a moment. "Daimyo Chichiatsu of the Swamp Country believes his uncle has hired ninja from the Hidden Cloud to assassinate him and his daughter before her upcoming wedding to -"

"Ah, sorry," Anko interrupted, a hint of unusual nervousness creeping into her voice. "I won't be able to take that mission."

"What?" Tsunade wasn't able to keep the shock from her voice. Anko wordlessly dropped a scroll onto the desk. Tsunade slowly unrolled it and scanned it. "Ah. I see. I'd forgotten about that arrangement."

"So had I," Anko admitted.

"There seems to be a bit of a problem, though," Tsunade said.

Anko nodded. "I need a genin kunoichi, preferably with good chakra control. I can pay for a C-rank mission."

"That won't be necessary," Tsunade said. "This is in the village's interest too."

Anko seemed relieved - not surprisingly. Even a C-rank mission cost quite a bit compared to the reduced salaries the Leaf ninja had been receiving since Orochimaru's attack. "I'd ask for the Hyuuga girl if I thought there was a chance I'd get her."

Tsunade tried to restrain a wince at the idea of Hyuuga Hiashi's reaction if she sent Hinata on a mission with Anko. The special jounin's face darkened slightly, and Tsunade realized she hadn't done very well at that. "Sorry, Anko-chan, but it just isn't possible.

"But," she continued, folding her hands in front of her face, "I believe I know someone who will work."

* * *

Haruno Amaya did not like to worry. This might have come as some surprise to Sakura, who of late thought that all her mother seemed to do was worry. Had she dared to say such a thing to Amaya's face, she might have responded that she had been given plenty of reason to worry since Sakura had become a genin.

Amaya wished with all her heart that she had stopped that. It had been one thing to allow her daughter to become a ninja when the Leaf were one of the most powerful of all ninja villages, at peace with all their neighbors. It was quite another when the Leaf were crippled by treachery, and the other major powers were circling like vultures around a dying beast.

Now, Sakura was a stranger to her, rarely speaking - and when she did it was with a relative insolence so unlike the almost over-polite daughter she had raised. The past few days, she'd stumbled home late at night, half-dead from exhaustion and with several new bruises. She woke early each morning and left with hardly a word.

Amaya quietly opened the door to Sakura's room, frowning as she saw Sakura lying on top of her bed, fully clothed. It looked like it had been all she could do to throw her jacket on the floor before throwing herself on the bed and falling asleep. With a soft sigh, Amaya slipped across the room, picking up the offending garment. She began to hang it in Sakura's open wardrobe, only to stop as she noticed a folded piece of paper sticking out of one pocket.

Curious, she took it out and unfolded it, holding the jacket in one hand. That dropped from her nerveless hand when she began to read the paper. Amaya shook slightly, then bent over to pick up the jacket. She hung it up, but did not return the piece of paper. She slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Haruno Amaya stared at the Chuunin Exam application form she held, and began to shake again. She slumped back against the door, holding the form so tightly it began to crumple in her hand.

"No."

* * *

Author's Random Rambling

1) And there's Chapter 1, which is as of its writing the longest single chapter of any story I've written. Curiously, it took about the same time to write as a more normal-sized chapter.

2) As you may have noticed, I'm using a hybrid of Japanese and English for technique names in this story. My only excuse is that this is the only solution that left the names "sounding right" to me while allowing me to make up new techniques easily. Any Japanese speaker willing to translate technique names is welcome to contact me and obsolete this imperfect compromise.

3) Thanks to Jed Hagen and The Eternal Lost Lurker for their comments on the draft of this chapter.

Draft Started: July 19, 2005

Draft Finished: October 23, 2005

Draft Released: October 30, 2005

Final Released: November 16, 2005


	3. Chapter 2: On the Road

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 2: On the Road

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, kittens. Lots of kittens. Cute ones.

* * *

**Day Eight**

"I have come as you have commanded, Orochimaru-sama." Yakushi Kabuto, as ever a perfect picture of obedient loyalty, dropped to his knees before his master's throne. The heavy shadows that cloaked the chamber deep beneath the current incarnation of the Sound Village did not disturb him, for Kabuto considered himself long since used to the aesthetics Orochimaru preferred. Still, he could not stop himself from shifting slightly as the screams that echoed up from a grating set in the floor not far from where he knelt briefly doubled in intensity.

Orochimaru laughed a low, amused chuckle. "You need not concern yourself with that, Kabuto. The young Uchiha is merely learning the price of insolence." Orochimaru smiled cruelly, stretching the new face he wore in ways its former owner would never have imagined. Kabuto did not dare to ask why his master had not abandoned it in favor of his own face, as he had done in his last body. "Kakashi must have been a softer teacher than I had thought."

"He likely thought he had time for the boy to mature on his own," Kabuto commented, "and once he knew he did not, he likely feared to drive him into your hands with harshness."

Orochimaru waved a hand slightly to dismiss the topic, and Kabuto's keen eyes detected a small shiver of pleasure at the ease of the movement. For now, at least, it seemed as though Orochimaru had escaped his teacher's dying curse. "Well?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"Our allies in the Leaf Village performed well. Jiraiya-sama was given the message you asked, Orochimaru-sama, and moved as you predicted." Kabuto paused. "I took the liberty of detaching a jounin squad from the Hill Country border to follow him to the Earth Country."

"Good," Orochimaru said. "I want him in the north, well away from the Leaf. I have no intention of letting him get in the way."

"The coming war will make it difficult to return to the Fire Country, as well," Kabuto responded. He paused. "Do you wish word sent to Akatsuki, Orochimaru-sama? They could certainly keep him busy."

Orochimaru shook his head. "If they wish my aid, they can beg for it like the dogs they are," he said with a snarl. Then he laughed, the momentary flicker of anger vanishing from his face. "Besides, I want to be able to get my hands on Jiraiya and the Kyuubi brat if I need them."

"Dangerous tools, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto ventured.

Orochimaru smiled coldly. "Only for those who do not know how to use them." He rose, and gestured for Kabuto to follow suit. "Come. I wish you to ensure my new apprentice does not die from his chastisement, and then I will have another message for you to deliver."

* * *

It was close to dawn, and Jiraiya was not happy. He'd thought that they would have had several hours before the Valley ninja found out about the patrol they'd defeated, but the region had begun to swarm with patrols less than an hour afterwards. Worse, the patrols had forced him and Naruto far too close to the Rice Field border - exactly opposite the direction Jiraiya had planned to travel. He'd hoped to be close to the old border with Waterfall by now, not on the other side of the Hill Country.

The only saving grace was that his student had not caused any more trouble. In fact, he'd made himself quite useful with several well timed shadow replications to throw off pursuit. Jiraiya was actually a little impressed, considering the abysmal performance he had expected.

Still, Naruto's presence was a burden. By himself Jiraiya would have had no problem slipping past the enemy lines, but Naruto was nowhere near the level needed to do that. There were at least fifty ninja out searching for them, Jiraiya estimated - most of those chuunin with a handful of genin and jounin. He knew nothing in Naruto's experience would have prepared him for this.

Jiraiya held up a hand for Naruto to stop at the bottom of the ridge that loomed over them, then began to crawl up the slope. With any luck, he'd be able to get some sort of bearing on their pursuers. By the time he was about to cautiously peer over the crest of the ridge, however, this was no longer necessary. Across what he judged to be the Rice Field border, a globe of flame burst in mid-air. Moments later, smaller balls of fire rose from the ground to the north and south before exploding into brilliance high above. "The Sound," Jiraiya breathed as his eyes adjusted first to the sudden light and then back to the darkness of the clear night. "They think the Valley are attacking!"

Jiraiya raced back down the ridge, barely stopping to shout "Let's go!" at Naruto before running back in the direction they'd come from.

"What about the enemy?" Naruto asked as he followed, noting Jiraiya lack of concern with stealth.

"The Valley ninja are going to have more important things to worry about in a moment, and so will we if we don't get out of here," Jiraiya answered. He suddenly stopped his run faster than seemed possible, then leapt backward mere moments before a kunai hit the ground where he'd been standing.

"I think not," a female voice said as its owner rose from concealment. Jiraiya quickly recognized the woman as the apparent leader of the squad they had fought earlier. She scratched the scar the ran beside her nose before drawing her sword from beneath her uniform jacket. "I won't go down so easily this time, Sound scum. Your friends won't get here in time."

Jiraiya gestured at Naruto to stay out of the way even as more Valley ninja began to step out of the shadows. "I don't suppose I could convince you that they weren't my friends?" he asked as he considered his options.

The Valley kunoichi only laughed, her hands forming a seal around the hilt of her katana. "Die," she said, plunging her sword into the ground before her.

Jiraiya cursed, roughly grabbing Naruto with one arm and jumping into the air. The ground ripped itself open, a wide chasm forming with one end where the sword had struck the ground. The hills surrounding them shuddered as the Valley woman lifted the sword again, waiting for her foe to land. The other Valley ninja began to throw kunai and shuriken at the two.

"Use your Whirlwind Shield!" Jiraiya commanded as the weapons neared, and Naruto complied. The sudden burst of wind carried dust kicked up the opening of the chasm, obscuring their vision for a moment. When they could see again, Jiraiya directed their fall toward the only place he knew the enemy commander wouldn't be able to use the same attack again - right on top of her.

The enemy kunoichi's eyes widened in shock as she realized his course, but she recovered quickly enough to position herself to deal a fatal blow. However, even burdened by Naruto, Jiraiya managed to kick the blade aside, planting his other foot in her face. As the woman stumbled back he landed neatly, depositing Naruto on the ground beside him.

Though Jiraiya drew no weapon, his hands were ready and he showed no fear as the woman rose and the other Valley ninja began to surround him. "I said you had more pressing problems," he commented. "Those Sound ninja will make it here from the border any moment now."

The woman snarled, gesturing wildly with her sword. The two Leaf ninja sprouted dozens of kunai, expertly thrown by the surrounding Valley ninja. The enemy commander's snarl turned into a howl of rage as the two shadow replications vanished in puffs of smoke seconds later.

* * *

This morning had Sakura, who usually considered herself at least a little bit of a morning person, rethinking her opinion on the whole concept of mornings. She had woken up with a headache on top of all the aches her training the past week had left her. Then, once she was dressed - undressed and redressed to be more accurate, since she had apparently fallen asleep fully clothed - she had gone downstairs only to discover that her mother had not only gotten up before her but had apparently hardly slept at all. She had barely opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when she saw the chuunin exam application form lying on the kitchen table.

The first word out of her mother's mouth was "No."

"What? Why not?" Sakura asked, even though she realized seconds later that it was the wrong thing to say.

"Because you tried to hide it from me!" her mother said, and Sakura groaned inwardly. Just as she had predicted, her mother had taken the opportunity to preemptively shift the grounds of the argument away from the chuunin exam itself.

"I wasn't hiding it from you!" Sakura protested, knowing it was to no avail. "I just hadn't had a chance to tell you yet!" It wasn't quite a lie, she thought to herself. She had been so busy and tired since she started training with Kakashi that she really hadn't had a chance to sit down and think about how to get her mother to let her take the exam.

"And why should I trust that when you lied last time?" her mother asked.

"I've told you a hundred times that they wouldn't tell me anything about the exam before I took it!" Sakura said. "How was I supposed to know that I'd have to be gone for five days?"

Her mother snorted in disbelief, and Sakura felt an ill-advised fury rising. Once she would have easily repressed it, shutting it off in a corner of her mind, but now, tired and thinking poorly, she gave into it. "Why should I tell you anything when you don't believe what I tell you?"

"I'm your mother!" The two stared at each other for a long moment before the older woman continued. "I've already decided. You are not taking this exam again."

"Hokage-sama herself asked me to take the exam! I can't tell her no!"

"I don't care what she says! She isn't your mother. You are not going to take this exam and that's final!" Sakura's mother half-rose from her seat, slamming her hands onto the kitchen table.

"I can't just say no to the Hokage!" Sakura yelled back.

"That's exactly what you're going to do. For that matter, you're grounded for at least a week." Sakura's mother stood up fully. "Do you understand, Sakura?"

It was at this point that they heard a sharp knock on the front door. For a long instant, the two women stared at each other wordlessly. It was Sakura's mother who looked away first, stalking over to the door and throwing it open with excessive force. The man in the doorway didn't flinch from the loud noise. Sakura recognized him as one of the Hokage's chuunin bodyguards - though they seemed to spend more time running messages or fetching records from the archives than actually guarding Tsunade.

"I have a message for Haruno Sakura from Hokage-sama," the chuunin said. Perhaps calming somewhat in a stranger's presence, Sakura's mother stood aside, allowing Sakura to approach. The man nodded as he saw her. "Hokage-sama wishes to see you before you begin your training for today. Do you understand, Haruno-san?"

"Yes," Sakura said with a nod, and without another word the chuunin was gone, no doubt to deliver another message. Sakura glanced back at her mother. "I have to go," she said quietly.

A tense gaze passed between the two, but eventually the older woman turned away. "All right," she said, her voice tight with reined-in emotion. Grateful for the reprieve, Sakura ventured a smile, but no matching expression appeared on her mother's face.

Holding in a sigh, Sakura slipped outside, closing the door quietly behind her. Now, what could this be about? She was nowhere near ready to meet Tsunade's standard for becoming her apprentice. She was certainly stronger and faster than she had been a week ago - she almost didn't notice the leg weights she wore already. Compared to where she wanted to be, though, she had a long way to go.

There was no use worrying about that, though. She'd find out why Tsunade wanted to see her soon enough. The only reason to think about it was to avoid thinking about the fight she'd just had with her mother. What did she expect, anyway? Sakura was a ninja - of course she was going to take the chuunin exam. She had no intention of staying a genin for the rest of her life. Of course, recently it seemed her mother wouldn't be happy with that either.

"Sakura!"

The voice shook Sakura from her gloomy thoughts, and she realized that her path had taken her past the Yamanaka Flower Store. She glanced over at where her rival had paused from sweeping the entrance. "Ino, if this is about the chuunin exam, I'm not in the -"

"You should be glad I'm not ready to make a decision about that, Forehead!" Ino snarled. "At the moment I'd rather not take the exam at all than take it with you."

Sakura blinked, then raised an arm to her head to ward off the headache that seemed to be coming back in full force. "Is there some reason for this, Ino-pig, or are you just letting your inner bitch shine through?" It was a little cruder of a retort than Sakura would normally have used, but she was in no mood to play today, even if she'd had the time.

Ino blinked, almost startled out of her anger. "It's that kid you dumped on me a couple days ago," she explained.

"Inari-kun?" Sakura asked after a moment to remember what Ino was talking about.

"He spent yesterday visiting the academy and started a fight with the Third's grandson. Since Iruka-sensei had seen me with him, he sent for me and I got stuck babysitting the little brat all day. You owe me big, Forehead."

Sakura blinked. "Inari-kun got into a fight? About what?"

Ino sighed in exasperation. "Some nonsense about who was better friends with Naruto. Why anyone would want to fight about that, I'll never know."

"Can we talk about this later?" Sakura asked with a sigh. "Hokage-sama asked to see me."

Ino snorted. "I hope she gives you the job of taking care of that brat."

"Maybe," Sakura said, then went on her way. Fortunately, to escape her mother she had left somewhat earlier than necessary, and had no need to hurry despite stopping for the conversation with Ino. Indeed, as it turned out she could have delayed even further than she had, as she found herself waiting outside the Hokage's office for Tsunade to finish with whoever she was seeing.

She wasn't the only one in this situation. An older woman slouched against the wall opposite the door to the office, toying idly with a kunai. It took Sakura several moments to recognize the woman as the examiner from the second part of the chuunin exam. "Ah, Mitarashi-sensei," Sakura ventured, hoping that she had remembered the name correctly. "Good morning."

The special jounin favored Sakura with a measuring glance, then snorted irritably and turned away, her attention returning to the blade in her hands. Sakura thought she heard the older woman mutter something under her breath, but she couldn't quite catch it. On further reflection, she probably didn't want to. She had enough problems already. She really didn't need to add Mitarashi Anko - that was the name, she was sure of it - to that list.

Anko, seeming to notice Sakura's scrutiny, turned back and grinned. Then she fumbled the kunai. Strangely, the seemingly inadvertent mistake resulted in the dagger flying to embed itself in the wall mere inches from Sakura's head, traveling as straight and true as if it had been deliberately thrown. Sakura gulped involuntarily, and Anko's grin widened. "Oops," she said, not sounding particularly penitent as she strode over, plucking her kunai from the wall.

"Be nice, Anko-chan."

The special jounin started as though struck and whirled about to face the woman who had just walked into this part of the corridor, several thick folders tucked under one arm. "Shizune-sempai!" The malicious grin on Anko's face was replaced by an innocent smile that was somehow far more disturbing. "I'm always nice!"

"I know you, Anko-chan," Shizune said. "Don't make that disgusting face at me."

Anko stuck out her tongue. "You're no fun anymore, Shizune-sempai." Shizune rolled her eyes in exasperation, while Sakura simply stared in bewilderment at the suddenly much younger-seeming Anko.

Shizune glanced down at the genin. "Good morning, Sakura-chan. I hope you haven't had too much trouble with Anko-chan here."

"Ah, good morning, Shizune-sama." Sakura glanced at Anko, who now had a slightly genuine-seeming worried expression on her face. "No trouble at all." Anko's face lightened instantly.

"Good," Shizune said. The medical ninja glanced at the shut door of the Hokage's office. "Is Tsunade-sama still in her first appointment?" When Anko nodded, Shizune sighed. "I'd better go make sure those two aren't getting drunk together again." Sakura blinked at that, and with a nod at the two other ninja Shizune walked over to the door and let herself in.

As soon as the office door closed behind Shizune, Anko turned back to Sakura with a wide grin on her face. "You might be more fun than I thought." She laughed and began to play with her kunai again. Sakura shrunk back. She could only hope that she wouldn't have to spend too much longer with this... this psycho. With any luck she would have forgotten about her by the next chuunin exam.

There was the sound of a brief scuffle from inside the Hokage's office, and both ninja waiting outside turned to the door as it was flung open. Shizune stalked out, holding a bottle of sake in one hand. She wordlessly wrenched open the closest window and dumped the contents out to the lawn below. This task done, Shizune strode out of sight, muttering surprisingly crude words to herself.

A few moments later Tazuna walked into the hallway, a shocked look on his face. "That is... a very persuasive woman," he said to himself, then he shook all over and seemed to regain his composure. "Good morning, Sakura-chan."

"Good morning," Sakura said, forcing a smile onto her face. It was beginning to get a little annoying, being wished a good morning so often when this morning had been anything but good.

Tazuna smiled back at her. "Good luck on your mission," he said.

Sakura blinked. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"Oh," Tazuna said. "I guess that's what you're here for," he said. Noting Sakura's puzzled look, he explained, "I just finished negotiating with the Hokage a contract for Leaf ninja to help protect the Wave Country. I asked her if she could assign you to the mission, but she said you had another mission." Anko coughed deliberately, and Tazuna started. "Oh yes. The Hokage asked me to tell you two to go in whenever you're ready."

Sakura glanced worriedly at the special jounin, silently reciting what she already guessed were futile prayers that she wouldn't have to go on a mission with the insane woman. Steeling herself, she said goodbye to Tazuna and followed Anko into the Hokage's office, shutting the door behind her.

The Hokage was staring mournfully at an empty cup that lay on its side on her desk next to the stack of folders Shizune had left behind. "I don't suppose you brought anything to drink, Anko-chan?"

"Ah, no, Tsunade-sama," Anko answered, seemingly as uncomfortable with seeing the Hokage half-drunk as Sakura was. "Shizune-sempai would kill me."

Tsunade groaned. "She probably would." The Hokage rubbed at her eyes with another groan. "I hate being sober in the mornings." Sakura stared in horror at the Sannin, but then Tsunade straightened, in an instant seemingly as collected as ever. "Haruno-kun," she said.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked.

"I'm assigning you to a C-rank mission beginning tomorrow morning. You will be accompanying Mitarashi-san on a diplomatic mission to her -"

"Tsunade-sama?" Anko interrupted. "I'll tell her the details myself later, if you don't mind."

Tsunade glared at the special jounin, and Anko rubbed the back her neck nervously. Tsunade's eyes suddenly softened. "I understand," the Hokage said. "All right, then. Dismissed." Tsunade's attention turned to the stack of paperwork on her desk, and after a moment the other two ninja let themselves out.

Sakura glanced at the sun out the window. "I'm going to be late to my meeting with Kakashi-sensei," she commented.

"That's fine," Anko said after a second, her voice distracted. "Just meet me at the south gate tomorrow at dawn. There'll be plenty of time to talk on the way."

Sakura nodded. "How long should I pack for?" she asked.

Anko gazed at ceiling. "Shouldn't be longer than a week and a half," she said. "I hope."

Sakura turned to leave with another nod, beginning to run as soon as she left Anko's vision. A week and a half with that lunatic? Maybe she should write out a will before she left. Sakura glanced at the sun again when she left the building, and realized she had no time for such thoughts. She would have to hurry to make it to the bridge on time.

When she made it there after an exhausting run across half the village, Kakashi was waiting, tapping his foot impatiently. "You're late, Sakura-chan," he commented.

Sakura snapped. "I knew it!" she shouted. "I knew it! The one time out of all these hundreds of times that I'm late is the first time that you ever show up on time!"

Perhaps Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "It looks that way," he said, amused. "Why were you late?" After she had composed herself again, Sakura explained the mission she had been given to Kakashi. Her teacher nodded. "I thought that might be it. I'll see if I can find something for you to work on while you're away."

"Thank you," Sakura said.

Kakashi nodded. "Before that, though, we can still get in another day of training. Try the technique again and think in three dimensions this time. Flat replications wouldn't even fool Naruto."

Sakura resisted the urge to groan as she closed her eyes and slowly formed the first seal of the Perfect Replication Technique. "I understand, Kakashi-sensei."

* * *

**Day Nine**

Fortunately for Sakura, Kakashi had let her off early the previous afternoon, and unlike the last morning she awoke well-rested and in no pain. Well, in only a little pain was more accurate. She hadn't awoken pain-free since she'd started wearing the weights, but she was already used to those aches. Taking advantage of the free afternoon, Sakura had packed before going to bed. She quickly dressed herself in the clothes she had laid out after that. For a long moment she debated leaving the leg weights behind, but ultimately she put them on with a sigh. They wouldn't do nearly as much good if she didn't wear them all the time.

After slinging her pack onto her back, she slipped quietly downstairs. Much to her dismay, her mother had once again awoken early, and she was waiting for her daughter at the kitchen table, a half-drunk mug of lukewarm tea sitting in front of her. "And where do you think you're going, Sakura?" she asked.

"I told you last night," Sakura said. "I have a mission. I should be back within two weeks."

Her mother stood. "And I told you that you were grounded, didn't I? You aren't going anywhere."

Sakura resisted the urge to clench her fists. "It's a mission, not a vacation. I have to go, mother."

"You'll refuse the mission." Her mother's voice made it clear that she intended this statement to be final.

"I can't!" Sakura protested. "Do you have any idea of the type of black mark a mission refusal like that is on a genin's record?"

"I don't care. I'm not going to let you go off and get yourself killed!" her mother answered.

Sakura wasn't able to stop herself from rolling her eyes. "It's just a C-rank mission. I won't be in any real danger!"

Her mother just laughed. "On your first C-ranked mission you fought one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist! What are you going to do this time, assassinate the Mizukage?"

"Of course not!" Sakura said. "It's just a diplomatic mission this time, not a combat assignment."

Her mother's eyes narrowed suddenly. "A diplomatic mission to the Mist?"

Sakura blinked, surprised. "What? No, just to someone here in the Fire Country." The formal mission scroll that had arrived last afternoon had been very skimpy on details - the Hokage having apparently taken Anko's wish to explain the mission herself very seriously. However, it had made it clear that this was a domestic mission and would be paid on that scale, not as a more lucrative foreign mission.

The sudden interest her mother had shown did not apparently foretell any softening of her position. "That changes nothing. You aren't going."

Sakura swallowed nervously, taking a step closer to the door. She hadn't wanted to go down this road, but if it was her only chance of getting out of here without taking an even more offensive option, she had no choice. She glanced toward a barely visible cabinet in the sitting room, and prayed for forgiveness. "I'm a ninja like my father," she said slowly. "Don't you think he would want me to accept this mission?"

Her mother shrunk back as though Sakura had punched her. "You," she growled, and Sakura realized that she might have made a very bad miscalculation. "Don't you dare bring your father into this, Sakura. Your father never even got to see you, because he died! He was killed by that... by the Kyuubi!" Her mother paused, visibly reining in her emotions. "I don't want you to wind up like him."

"Then why did you even send me to the ninja academy?" Sakura asked, finally giving voice to the question that had hung in the back of her mind in many similar arguments. Her mother just glared at her in response, and after a moment Sakura slowly took another step to the door. "I'm a ninja," she repeated. "Technically, I don't need your approval for anything." There. It was said.

"Technically?" Sakura's mother's voice rose. "Don't you dare walk out that door, Sakura, not if you intend to walk back through it again!"

Sakura's face tightened. "Then I guess we've made our decisions," she forced herself to say. She turned away so her mother could not see her tears and walked out the door. Even as it shut, she heard sobbing behind her, but with supreme effort of will she kept walking.

By the time she reached the south gate, Sakura's face was dry of tears, even though her eyes were red and watery. Anko was waiting for her, slouching against the village wall, once again playing with a dagger. "You're a little late," the special jounin said.

"Sorry," Sakura answered flatly. "I was delayed," was all she said in excuse.

"That's fine," Anko said after a moment. "You still beat Hatake, and he asked me to wait for him anyway."

A figure jumped down from the wall overhead, landing directly in front of Anko. "Yo," Kakashi said in greeting.

The female jounin's kunai was at his throat before the word left his mouth. "What have I told you about sneaking up on me like that, Hatake?"

Kakashi pushed the blade aside, all his attention on Sakura. "Is something wrong, Sakura-chan?" he asked. Anko sighed, putting her weapon away.

"No," Sakura managed to answer, keeping her voice flat. "Nothing's wrong."

Kakashi stared at her for a long moment. "All right," he said finally, although the tone of his voice made it clear that it was anything but. He held out two small scrolls to Sakura. "These are for you," he said.

Sakura accepted the scrolls. "Thank you," she said.

"One is some notes on the Perfect Replication Technique that should help you master it," Kakashi said. "The other is another technique you might find useful. You should be able to learn it on your own."

"Thank you," Sakura said again as she slipped the scrolls into her pack. "Are we ready to go then?" she asked Anko, deliberately pushing the fight with her mother out of her mind. She'd apologize when she got back, and surely her mother would be willing to see reason then.

The special jounin ignored her, instead staring at Kakashi. Sakura noticed that Anko was scratching the back of her neck again. "Hatake," she said suddenly.

"Hmm?" Kakashi asked, his gaze flicking back to the other jounin.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here," Anko said after a moment, in a voice that Sakura, even from her brief acquaintance, knew was unusually serious. "I might have been able to do something if I'd guessed what he had planned."

"There's only one person to blame for what happened, and he isn't you, Mitarashi-san," Kakashi answered. He still didn't turn to face Anko.

"You shouldn't blame yourself either, Hatake," Anko said, her voice pained. "Orochimaru's the one responsible."

Sakura finally realized what the two jounin were discussing, and her gaze narrowed as she began to study Anko. Why was she so concerned about what had happened to Sasuke?

Kakashi only grunted. "Good luck, Sakura-chan," he said, and walked away.

Anko stared after the retreating jounin. "I hate that man," she muttered to herself in a tone Sakura didn't think she was meant to hear. Then she glanced at Sakura, as though reminding herself that the genin was there. "Well, let's go," she said.

A few minutes later, the two ninja were walking south through the forests that surrounded the Leaf Village. From her studies of the local geography, Sakura guessed that they would emerge that afternoon near the highway that connected the capital with the southern coast, if they didn't change direction. "Are you going to tell me about the mission, Mitarashi-sensei?" Sakura forced herself to ask when it became apparent that the jounin had no intention of talking.

"Oh yeah," Anko said with a laugh. "Um... you did sign all those liability forms, right? I don't know why Hokage-sama suggested you for an S-rank mission like this, and I don't want to be responsible for any of it."

Sakura glared at the jounin's back. "Isn't this supposed to be a C-rank diplomatic mission?" she asked.

Anko stopped suddenly, pounding a convenient tree trunk. "Damn it," she said. "Tsunade-sama did tell you that much, didn't she?" Anko cursed again. "I've been saving that one for years. Promise you won't tell anyone about it?" Anko turned back to Sakura, a very fake pleading look on her face.

"I'll be sure to warn everyone in the village," Sakura growled. "It's a poor excuse for a joke."

"Meanie," Anko said, sticking out her tongue.

Sakura's eyebrow twitched. "Please tell me that wasn't why you wanted to tell me the details yourself."

Anko grinned at her. "Pretty much," she said. The special jounin turned and began to walk again, and after a moment Sakura followed, reminding herself that trying to stab a jounin in the back would not accomplish very much.

After several more minutes of travel, Sakura asked again. "So, are you planning on telling me what this mission is really about?"

Anko glanced back, and paled at the look on Sakura's face. "Right," she said, a hint of overdramatic nervousness in her voice. "So, what do you know about the Hidden Village of the Volcano?"

Sakura forced herself to concentrate and search her memory. "They were the main ninja village of the old Fire Country," Sakura answered. "They were destroyed in the civil wars prior to the union with the Wood Country, about twenty years before the First Hokage founded the Leaf Village. The First was a chuunin there before -"

"That's enough," Anko interrupted. "I bet you aced all your history tests in the academy."

"Yes," Sakura answered, allowing a little pride into her voice.

Anko laughed. "Didn't do you much good in the Chuunin Exam, did it?"

Sakura found herself glaring at Anko's back again. "No," she was forced to answer.

"Anyway," Anko said, "we're going to be visiting an independent kunoichi clan that was part of the Volcano village, but never joined up with the Leaf." She paused, as though weighing her next words carefully. "Back during the last war, there was a lot of fighting down there, since the clan fortress controls one of the few good ports on the Bay of Flames. The Sand destroyed them before the alliance was signed."

"If they were destroyed, why are we going on a diplomatic mission to them?" Sakura asked,

Anko didn't answer directly, instead continuing her story. "A young girl survived the destruction and was found by... a Leaf jounin who happened to be in the area. The jounin took her in as a student, thinking the clan destroyed. It turned out that one of the elders survived, and she tracked down the jounin." Anko stopped suddenly, turning back and grinning at Sakura, though the smile seemed forced. "See? If you just listen you won't have any questions."

"Just get to the point," Sakura answered irritably.

Anko sighed. "The jounin made a deal with the surviving elder. The girl would stay with the Leaf and they would be allowed to take control of the port. In return, the girl would be taught the clan's secret techniques and would later teach them to her students, so that the techniques would not die when the elder did."

"So where do I come in?" Sakura asked, already having a disturbing suspicion.

"I recently received a letter from the clan," Anko answered, "requesting my presence and the presence of my student, to confirm that the Leaf had upheld their part of the deal."

"So why couldn't you bring the real girl?" Sakura asked. "Is she dead?" Sakura shivered slightly, her mother's fears no longer seeming quite so foolish.

Anko stopped moving. "What?" she asked startled. After a moment she turned back and stared at Sakura, a hurt expression on her face. "I'm the girl!" she said. "What, did you think I was the jounin? Honestly, how old do you think I am?"

Sakura flushed. "Sorry," she said.

Anko snorted. "I'll remember that," she said, muttering a few unkind things under her breath. "Anyway, since I actually didn't have a student, Tsunade decided to make Hatake loan you to me. I'll try and teach you the first of the clan techniques on the way, so we won't really be lying about anything if we don't have to."

"I understand," Sakura said.

"Good," Anko replied, reaching for a water bottle hidden under her coat, "because all that talking makes me thirsty and I don't intend to repeat myself." She took a long swig.

Sakura gave in to her curiosity. "If you were the girl, who was the jounin? Anyone I know?" If it had been an Uchiha, it might explain Anko's strange interest in Sasuke.

Anko slowly screwed the cap back on her water bottle and replaced it under her jacket. "Nobody important," she answered flatly. Her hand raised slightly, perhaps to scratch at her neck, but with clear effort Anko forced it back to her side. "Let's get moving," she said roughly, setting off without another word.

After a moment, Sakura followed, her curiosity not at all sated by the non-answer.

* * *

It was raining. Water streamed down across the mouth of the cave where Naruto and Jiraiya were camped in a near-continuous sheet. Despite the fact that it was still afternoon, there was almost no light from outside except for the occasional brief flashes of lightning. Not even the most dedicated pursuer would be hunting the two Leaf ninja through this storm, but conversely the fugitive pair could not travel themselves.

In the back of the cave Jiraiya was tending a small fire, having judged the risks of it being spotted minimal. He had commandeered two of Naruto's packets of instant ramen, and was almost ready to put a small pot of water on to boil. It would be the first warm meal the two had enjoyed since their lunch in the small village back in the Fire Country.

Naruto, already growing bored, wandered over to the cave entrance, peering curiously through the rain at the valley floor below. What had already become a treacherous bog when they had struggled through it earlier that morning was rapidly turning into a lake. The lower lying areas that Naruto could see were already underwater, small rises in the ground becoming islands in the muddy water. Naruto frowned as he noticed something odd. "Weird," he said, half to himself.

Jiraiya put the pot on the fire before responding. "What's weird, boy?"

"Those small hills over there," Naruto said, pointing without realizing that there was no way his teacher could see the landscape in question. "They're all lined up in straight rows."

Jiraiya grunted. "That's because humans built them," he said.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"They're graves," Jiraiya said flatly. "This is where the pride of the Waterfall Village died."

Naruto jumped back from the entrance, paling. "Graves? There's got to be a hundred of them!" he protested.

"Less than half that," Jiraiya said as he turned to Naruto, keeping an eye on the pot of water, "but there's a lot more than one person in each."

Naruto's face whitened even further. "So many?" he asked. "Why?"

Jiraiya gestured for Naruto to come sit by him, and after a moment Naruto complied. Jiraiya removed the now-boiling pot from the fire, carefully pouring the water into the two ramen containers. "You should have learned this in your history classes," he said, "but I'm sure you didn't pay attention to them."

Naruto shook his head. "That stuff's boring. And it was right after lunch, too."

"Well, pay attention this time," Jiraiya said. "This story might be useful if you want to become Hokage."

Naruto sat up, suddenly excited. "Really?" he asked. When his teacher nodded he practically bounced up and down. "Tell me; tell me now!"

"I told you before that the Rock and Valley ninja took over half of Waterfall Country when the Waterfall switched sides during the war, right?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto looked puzzled briefly, then nodded his head frantically. "I remember!" he said, almost sounding surprised at this himself.

"Good," Jiraiya said. "The story of this valley starts after the five great powers had signed the peace agreements that ended the war." Jiraiya paused, letting out a sigh. "The agreement between the Leaf's alliance and the Rock's didn't say anything about the part of Waterfall Country that had been conquered. The Leaf and Sand refused to acknowledge the conquest, and the Rock refused to give it up, but both sides were too tired to fight about it anymore.

"The Waterfall were very upset about this, and decided to try and retake their country by force despite the peace. They demanded help from their allies, but only the Grass sent ninja and even they sent only a few."

"Why didn't we help them?" Naruto asked. "They're the Leaf's allies, right?"

"If the Leaf or the Sand had helped the Waterfall, it would have meant starting the Great War again," Jiraiya added. "The Leaf's diplomats did everything they could to stop the Waterfall from attacking, but the leaders of the Waterfall were convinced that they could win even on their own. They thought that the Rock were too weak from the war to send much aid to the Valley. If they could defeat the Valley in one decisive battle and take part of the Hill Country, they could trade it back for the rest of their country."

"That makes sense, I guess," Naruto said after a moment, when it became apparent that Jiraiya was waiting for him to say something.

"It would have, if they'd been right," Jiraiya said. "When they crossed the border into the Hill Country they found the entire Rock alliance waiting for them." Jiraiya sighed again. "They should have retreated then, but the leaders of the Waterfall were young and proud. When they found out that the main Valley force was camped out here, away from the rest of the Rock army, the Waterfall attacked."

"And?" Naruto prompted when Jiraiya fell silent again.

"It was a trap," Jiraiya said. "The camp was a fake. The Waterfall found themselves surrounded by their enemies, who had been hiding in caves like this one all around the fake encampments. The Waterfall built fortifications and waited for an attack that didn't come. Instead the Tsuchikage himself went to the Waterfall camp and offered them peace."

"Was it another trick?" Naruto asked.

"Who knows?" Jiraiya said. "It wasn't a very good one, if it was. The terms were very harsh, and like I said the Waterfall's leaders were proud. They refused the offer, and the next day the Rock alliance attacked and killed them all."

Naruto paled again, glancing at the cave's entrance. "That's horrible."

"That's war," Jiraiya said. He glanced down at the cups of instant ramen. "These should be done now," he said, handing one to Naruto.

The genin began to scarf down the ramen, but paused suddenly when the cup was half empty. "How's that story supposed to help me become the Hokage, Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya looked up from his own ramen. "Think, boy. The Waterfall died because their leaders were too proud to see that they were fighting a hopeless battle. If you become the Hokage, you'll have to know when to fight and when to accept peace even on terrible terms, or the ninja of the Leaf Village will die just like the Waterfall did. There's more to being Hokage than just being the most powerful ninja in the village."

"Oh," Naruto said quietly, glancing back at the entrance to the cave. He shivered slightly, then returned to his ramen.

* * *

**Day Ten**

The storm had passed the next morning, and Jiraiya awoke Naruto early. After the inevitable griping over this had passed, the two set out. They skirted the edges of the gravefield, Naruto giving the suddenly sinister mounds of earth many nervous looks before they finally passed out of eyeshot. After that, they began to ascend into the hills to the west.

When they reached the top of the first hill, Jiraiya turned to Naruto. "When we pass through these hills, we'll be in what used to be part of the Waterfall Country. There'll be more patrols there, so we'll have to be very careful."

Naruto nodded, and the two continued on their way. The terrain began to get rougher and rougher as they moved further west, until their progress was slowed to a crawl. Fortunately there was no sign of pursuit, and Naruto began to think that perhaps they had lost the Valley ninja for good. When he ventured the idea, though, Jiraiya shook his head.

"We might have lost them for now, but they won't let a loose end like us go easily, not if war with the Sound is as close as it seems. They're almost certainly still searching for us. I wager if we started heading north toward the coastal highway we might run into trouble." Jiraiya sighed. "We'll have to head that way eventually, though, if we intend to make it to Earth Country."

Despite this comment, Jiraiya continued to lead Naruto west for most of the day. They passed by one small village, but they took pains not to encounter any of the villagers. There was no telling who might remember two strangers if a Valley ninja happened to start asking questions.

They stopped briefly for a small, cold lunch about an hour after noon. It was then when Jiraiya spoke to Naruto again. "I suppose I should tell you something about where we're headed," he said.

"The Earth Country, right?" Naruto asked, proud that he had remembered that much.

"Right," Jiraiya said. "The Earth Country is surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges that are almost impassable even in the summer. There's only a few safe routes through them. Because of that, no foreign army has ever succesfully invaded the Earth Country by land."

"Why not?" Naruto asked.

"You'll have to learn to think one of these days, boy," Jiraiya said. "The ninja of the Rock Village can fortify the mountain passes and hold off many times their number easily. It would probably take an alliance of at least three great powers to force the passes if they were held, and there hasn't been an alliance like that since before the Leaf Village was founded."

Naruto frowned, but after a moment he nodded. "I understand."

"Once I think we're safe from pursuit, we'll turn north and head for the closest of those passes." Jiraiya paused before continuing. "That pass, by the way, was why the Rock were so insistent that the Hill Country keep control of this area." Naruto looked puzzled, and Jiraiya sighed. "Here, I'll just show you on a map, boy. Fetch my pack."

Naruto complied, and Jiraiya found the map with a minimum of searching and unrolled it. "See, boy? There's the Hill Country, and we're here in the old Waterfall Country."

"The map says it's still the Waterfall Country," Naruto said after a moment.

"The Fire Country doesn't recognize the Hill Country's claim to this part of the world," Jiraiya said, "so the maps made there don't really reflect reality."

"That doesn't seem very smart. What good is a map if it isn't right?" Naruto said and Jiraiya laughed.

"That's true, but politics can make people do funny things. If the Fire Country started using maps that said this area was part of the Hill Country, it would be a major diplomatic insult to the Waterfall Country. So far as they're concerned, this is still Waterfall Country, no matter who actually controls it right now."

"It still seems dumb," Naruto said.

"It does, doesn't it?" Jiraiya asked. "Anyway what I meant to show you is this pass here." Jiraiya pointed to a marking near the coast on what the map said was the border between the Earth and Waterfall countries. "That's where we're headed. You see why control of it was important to the Rock? The only other good pass on their southern border is way out here in the west."

After they had finished their lunch and repacked, the pair of Leaf ninja continued on their way. A few moments later, Jiraiya frowned, stopping suddenly as he examined the side of a rock. "Is something wrong, Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked.

"See these scratches?" Jiraiya said. Naruto couldn't see anything special, but her nodded anyway. "I think that these are Waterfall trail signs. We might have stumbled on one of the routes their raiders use to reach the coast. We should be able to follow it north and evade pursuit." Jiraiya frowned, weighing his options. "Follow me," he said firmly after a moment, changing direction suddenly to head northeast.

They moved more slowly after that, Jiraiya stopping frequently to look for and and interpret trail signs, Despite this and their constant changes of direction, they made good progress, and all through well-covered, uninhabited terrain. "The Waterfall certainly know this area well," Jiraiya commented after several hours. "I didn't even know that there was a safe way through the thickest part of these hills like this." He paused a moment, studying the latest marking further. "It looks like there's a safe place to rest a few miles further on."

Soon enough they found what seemed to be small cave at first but turned out to be a disguised, surprisingly long tunnel. It finally ended on a ledge overlooking a hidden lake, surrounded on all sides by sheer cliffs. Rough-cut stairs led down to a bridge that crossed the lake to a small fortress perched on a rocky island in the lake's center. Jiraiya whistled softly. "This is a little more elaborate than I was expecting," he said.

"I'm glad you're impressed." The voice came from above the pair, and before they could look for him its owner jumped down from his chakra-fueled perch above the entrance to the tunnel. The man landed softly between Naruto and Jiraiya, roughly grabbing the genin and bringing a kunai to his throat. "Don't try anything funny," the man said as two more ninja emerged from their hiding places in the lake, racing up the stairs to confront Jiraiya.

Jiraiya took in the mens' gray armor and forehead protectors and sighed softly. "Waterfall ninja," he said, gesturing at Naruto to stay calm.

"That's right," the first man said. "Care to explain why I shouldn't kill you and your boy, stranger?"

* * *

"I have come as you have commanded, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said as he slipped into the office.

Tsunade glanced up from her ever-present mounds of paperwork. She swore that Shizune had learned some sort of paperwork summoning technique behind her back. It was the only possible way it could pile up so quickly. "Don't be so formal," she said. "You make it sound like I summoned you here for a trial."

It seemed to Tsunade that Kakashi smiled slightly behind his mask. "The last time we spoke you mentioned putting me under guard," he commented.

"You seem to have recovered from that particular bit of idiocy," Tsunade said, reaching into the middle of a stack of paper and taking out a single sheet, "seeing as this is a mission request and not a leave request."

Kakashi said nothing at first, then he said, "That's a budget report from ANBU's interrogation squad."

Tsunade flipped the paper around and stared at it. "I could have sworn," she muttered as she searched through the papers. "Shizune must have rearranged everything again." Eventually she gave up. "Oh well," she said. "I do have a mission ready for you. It's a bodyguard mission for the daimyo of Swamp Country; I'll send the mission scroll your way when I find it."

"Will I be back in time for the exams?" Kakashi asked after a moment.

"You'll probably miss the preliminaries," Tsunade said, "but you'll be here for the main event, I'm sure." She paused. "Do you think Sakura-chan will make it that far?"

"She can," Kakashi said. Probably, he left unspoken.

"Good," Tsunade said. She frowned as she studied Kakashi. "Is something wrong?"

"I spoke with Sakura-chan before she left," Kakashi answered after a long moment. "I think she may be having some sort of family problem."

"If she comes to me, I'll look into it if I can." Tsunade sighed. "I'm the Hokage, not a substitute mother," she said. "Getting involved in stuff like that is one of the things I'm not supposed to do, or I'd have given Hyuuga Hiashi a lecture he wouldn't forget by now."

"I understand," Kakashi said. "I thought you would want to know."

"I do," Tsunade said, "but my hands are tied unless she complains to me herself, and even then my options are limited." Tsunade shook her head. "I'll get you that mission scroll tonight."

Kakashi bowed slightly and left the Hokage to her paperwork.

* * *

**Day Eleven**

Sakura was slowly going crazy. Her sanity just couldn't handle the onslaught of madness that was traveling with Anko. The first day, once the special jounin had finally told her what the mission was about, hadn't been too bad, in retrospect. Compared to how she'd been yesterday and today, Anko had been an excellent traveling companion. Perhaps she had been distracted by something that day, because since then she had been a nightmare.

It had started when Anko had decided to get an early start yesterday. It wasn't that bad an idea, though two hours before dawn would not have been Sakura's choice for a departure time. However, Anko had not chosen any normal means of waking up her temporary student. Instead Sakura had the unpleasant experience of being awoken suddenly by a large snake slithering into her bedroll. Sakura had killed it, of course, but Anko had seemed to take her venom-filled screams of rage as encouragement. Since then the special jounin had taken every opportunity to give Sakura first-hand experience with the surprisingly diverse serpentine population of the Fire Country.

Sakura dreaded every time Anko left her on the highway and went scouting, because she knew that the jounin's return would be heralded by the sudden appearance of a snake somewhere on Sakura's body. How Anko snuck up close enough to deposit the reptiles without being noticed, Sakura had yet to figure out. The only good thing was that Sakura was quickly becoming adept with rapidly removing her unwanted passenger.

Well, not quite the only good thing. At least Sakura's violent reaction to Anko's idea that they eat the snakes for dinner last night had worked. Though it might well have been the dango sale in the village they were staying in that had made the telling blow against the plan. Even in the course of their brief acquaintance, Sakura had discovered that Anko's love for dango was rivaled only by Naruto's love of ramen. Thankfully Anko had not yet suggested the same diet today. They were making camp in the countryside early in the afternoon rather than pressing on to the next village, and there was therefore no dango to distract her.

"So, why are we stopping now?" Sakura asked after she had finished scouring Anko's suggested campsite for any sign of snakes and begun to set up her tent.

Mercifully, Anko just answered the question, rather than using it as a springboard for more of her questionable humor. "We set out early so that we could stop early," she said as she seated herself on a rock and pulled out a kunai. "We'll need the time to get started on your training."

Sakura had almost forgotten Anko's comment about teaching her one of her clan techniques. "I'm not going to have to pretend to be adopted into to your clan or anything, am I?" she asked. "I mean, it is a secret technique and usually -"

Anko casually tossed her kunai, which flew past Sakura's head and embedded itself in a nearby tree trunk. Sakura barely flinched, but she did stop talking. She had already learned that this was Anko's way of asking her to be quiet and listen. "There won't be any problems with that," Anko said. "The whole point of the deal with the Leaf was that I'd spread the techniques."

Anko stood back up, walking past Sakura to grab her kunai again. She tossed it again, this time into a large piece of deadwood. "Go pick that up and throw it at me."

Sakura finished securing her tent. "The kunai?"

"No, the log," Anko said, her voice serious. "I'm going to show you what you're going to learn."

Sakura glanced dubiously at the jounin, but after a moment walked over and picked up the log. She stumbled under its weight briefly, then in one smooth motion lifted it over her head and hurled it at Anko. If she'd actually meant the kunai and had only said to throw the log as a joke, she deserved it, anyway.

Anko watched the log fly through the air until it had almost reached her. Then one hand formed a curious seal, even as she lashed out at the air with her other. Tendrils of flame sprouted from between her outstretched fingers and sliced through the air. As they hit the flying log they split it neatly in midair. Anko twisted her hand, sending the fiery streams horizontally across the pieces, leaving the log in almost a dozen sections which fell haphazardly onto the ground. Anko released the strange seal in her other hand, and the flames vanished.

She smirked. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon."

Sakura's eyes widened. "That's the first technique?"

"It doesn't take as much chakra as it looks like it would," Anko said. "Which is good, since your chakra reserve sucks."

Sakura bristled at the comment, but then she remembered the feats of endurance her teammates had accomplished and deflated. "I see," she said after a moment.

"You'd better hope that your chakra control is all it's cracked up to be, though," Anko said. "If you don't have superb control, this technique will take more practice than we have time for."

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"First, using a one-handed seal takes finer control than using a normal two-handed one. Second," Anko said, grinning widely, "if you don't have precise control over the flames, you'll get some interesting burns." Sakura glanced nervously at her hands, and Anko laughed. "Don't worry. There's a weird snake found around here that uses a venom that's actually good for burns. I'm sure I'll be able to -"

"No!" Sakura said vehemently. What was it with this woman and snakes, anyway?

Anko laughed again. "Looks like I've found some good motivation. Come on, give it a try."

"What was the seal, again?" Sakura forced herself to ask. Anko demonstrated, and Sakura slowly copied her. She closed her eyes briefly, gathering her chakra. Then she concentrated on her hand.

Sakura yelped, breaking the seal as she danced back, blowing frantically on her hand. It hadn't been more than a spark of flame, but it had hurt when it had gotten out of control. Anko chuckled cruelly. "No wonder you failed so badly in the exams. Isn't chakra control supposed to be your best skill?"

Sakura barely stopped herself from screaming at her teacher. "I don't suppose there are any tips you might have forgotten to tell me?"

Anko gazed thoughtfully upward, tapping her lips with a finger. "No," she said after a moment. "I don't think so."

Sakura sighed, forming the seal again. This time she got actual fire, though it didn't get past her fingers before the heat made her lose control. Fortunately, she managed to release the seal before burning herself too badly.

Anko kicked at a rock as she walked over to where Sakura had set up her tent, plopping down onto the ground. "I can see we're going to be here for a while. I should have pushed for the Hyuuga girl after all."

Sakura ignored her, staring at her hand. If she kept up this way, she was going to burn her fingers off before she got the fire under control. This was going to take practice, but she couldn't afford dangerous mistakes. After a moment, she walked purposefully to her pack and began to dig through it.

Anko just looked at her curiously. "Giving up already? I thought Hatake said you had willpower."

Sakura found what she was looking for, pulling out a pair of thick leather gloves. She slipped them on and walked back over to where she had been practicing. Sakura flexed her fingers, testing their mobility in the gloves, then formed the seal again. She began to channel chakra, only to find it dissipating before she could mold it properly to form the flames. Frowning, she released and reformed the seal, trying again to no greater success.

"You're trying to mold it outside your body since those gloves are in the way," Anko commented. "Even with good chakra control, that's hard."

Sakura considered this for a moment, then slipped off one of the gloves. Her other hand went to one of the kunai strapped to her leg and drew it. She quickly made a small slice in between each of the fingers of the glove, then replaced it and repeated the process with the other glove. She resheathed the dagger and flexed her fingers again.

Anko whistled appreciatively. "Smart girl," she said.

Sakura smiled slightly, then carefully formed the seal again. This time the flames made it to the tips of her fingers, and she managed to stop the technique without being burnt at all. More importantly, she had some idea now of why she was losing control, and knew that she would be able to improve on it. By the time she went to bed, Sakura could extend weak flames out a foot or strong ones half that, and hold them for several seconds before losing control.

Best of all, she hadn't burnt herself again.

* * *

Jiraiya did his best to ignore Naruto's loud ramblings while still keeping an ear out to make sure he didn't start talking about anything important. The Waterfall ninja had been polite enough once it had become apparent that the two of them did not intend to offer any resistance, and had escorted them to a small room in the fortress. They'd spent the night locked in there, but this morning they'd been allowed out to eat breakfast and had been left in the dining hall afterward. There was still a guard watching over them, but it was a little more trusting than Jiraiya would have been in a similar situation.

Then again, he had demonstrated knowledge of the Waterfall's tracking signs without being a Waterfall missing ninja, so his claim of being an ally had some backing. Whether they'd believed him when he'd told them his name - that was a different story. They hadn't called him a liar to his face, so the foreign ninja were probably at least considering the possibility.

Naruto had immediately hit it off with the guard watching them, a genin who appeared to be only a couple of years older than him. Naruto was currently relating with considerable enthusiasm the story of his mission to the Wave Country, with occasional questions from his listener, who seemed to be uncertain how much to believe. Some of it might have unbelievable to Jiraiya, also, but he knew that Naruto was a terrible liar. Besides, he'd heard a much less verbose version of the story from Kakashi, and it matched in most details. Glancing at Naruto, Jiraiya wondered whether the Waterfall ninja noticed the slight wince every time Naruto mentioned Sasuke. Probably not.

The story finally ground to a halt, and Naruto floundered briefly. The guard didn't salvage the conversation, and for a moment Jiraiya enjoyed the blessed silence. Then Naruto found a new topic. "Hey, your village sent people to the Chuunin Exam, right? Did you go?"

The guard shook his head. "No." He smiled proudly though. "Matsuyo-sama said that he'd recommend my team for the next ones, though, since our tour of duty here will be over in time. Will you be back in the Leaf in time for them?"

Jiraiya's ears perked up, and he waited to see if he would need to interrupt to stop Naruto for saying too much. "I don't think so," was all Naruto said, though, and Jiraiya relaxed. "Hey, if you go, could you give a message to Sakura-chan for me?"

"Sakura-chan?" the guard asked.

"Haruno Sakura. She's my... my teammate." Jiraiya grinned at Naruto's stumble, guessing that he'd imagined Sakura's reaction if he'd called her anything more familiar than his teammate.

The guard smiled as well, perhaps for the same reason. "How would I find her?"

"She's a really cute girl with pink hair," Naruto said. Perhaps realizing how unhelpful that description was, he continued. "Ask the teachers. If you tell them you have a message from me, they'll tell you how to find her."

"And what should I tell her?"

"Tell her I lo... I li.. I say hi," Naruto finished lamely, drawing a laugh from the guard. Naruto glowered at him.

"All right," the guard said, still laughing. "I'll pass it on if I get the chance," he said.

Moments later another Waterfall ninja entered the dining hall and walked up to Jiraiya. "The commander would like to speak to you," he said. Jiraiya nodded and rose. Naruto followed suit a moment later, but the ninja shook his head. "Not you, kid," he said. Jiraiya gestured at Naruto to stay put, and followed the other ninja through the fortress. When they reached what Jiraiya assumed was the commander's office, the ninja opened the door for Jiraiya but didn't follow him in, instead shutting the door behind him.

The commander of the Waterfall's hidden stronghold drummed his fingers slowly on his crude wooden desk as Jiraiya seated himself on the stool in front of it. The two were apparently alone in his office - a sign that the commander trusted Jiraiya's promise of good behavior. Of course, there was certainly a way that guards could be summoned to the office instantly, but the lack of visible precautions made an important gesture about the kind of discussion the commander wanted to have with Jiraiya.

"For the moment," the commander said once Jiraiya was seated, "let us assume that you are indeed the legendary Sannin Jiraiya, as you claim." He picked up one of the two cups of steaming tea on his desk, offering it to Jiraiya.

"Thank you," murmured Jiraiya as he took the cup, though he did sniff the tea carefully before taking a small sip. Unless they had a poisoner as skilled as Tsunade in this encampment, the tea was clean - though a little weak for Jiraiya's taste.

The commander didn't take offense to Jiraiya's careful testing, waiting for him to finish before continuing. "There's no matches for either you or the boy in any of our bingo books or the ones we've captured from the Valley in any case, but that doesn't mean much. We haven't had ours updated for a season."

Jiraiya nodded, taking another long sip of his tea. "You wish proof?"

"I would appreciate it," the commander said.

Jiraiya put the cup of tea down, raising his thumb to his mouth. "With your permission?" The commander nodded, and Jiraiya bit down. When he felt blood flowing, he placed his hand palm down on the desk. "Summoning Technique." There was a puff of smoke, and when it cleared a small toad appeared.

The toad looked around curiously before looking at Jiraiya. "What do you need, boss?"

"Could you tell my friend here what my name is?"

The toad looked puzzled - at least so far as a toad could - but it nodded, turning toward the Waterfall commander. "This here is Jiraiya-sama, the legendary pervert."

Jiraiya buried his face in his hands. "You've been hanging around Naruto-kun too much, Gamakichi." The toad grinned at Jiraiya, who sighed. "You can go now." The toad vanished in another puff of smoke.

The commander bowed slightly in his seat. "Forgive my suspicion, Jiraiya-sama."

"No forgiveness is needed. A little caution is to be expected in these circumstances. You've been more than polite." Jiraiya frowned slightly. "If I may have the pleasure of your name?"

"Of course, Jiraiya-sama. I am Matsuyo Nissho, chuunin of the Hidden Waterfall." Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, and Nissho flushed slightly. "The Leaf are not the only ones who suffered from the treachery of the Sand. They knew that we could be counted on to support the Leaf and sold all they knew of our defenses to the Valley." He grimaced slightly. "They told us of this when they repented of course, but many of our jounin died before that."

"I had not heard," Jiraiya admitted.

"We have not advertised the fact, Jiraiya-sama," Nissho responded. "We do not seek charity, and our troubles are small enough compared to the damage inflicted on the Leaf."

"I take it this location was not among those the Sand knew of," Jiraiya commented.

Nissho shook his head. "What brings you here, Jiraiya-sama?" Jiraiya launched into a heavily edited story, saying only that he and Naruto were heading north to the Earth Country and omitting the reasons behind it. Nissho did not press, instead rubbing his chin thoughtfully when Jiraiya had finished. "You mention a woman leading the Valley ninja pursuing you," he said. "Did she have any distinguishing marks of any sort?"

"A scar," Jiraiya answered, "running alongside her nose."

The commander smiled, reaching into his desk and pulling out a small black book. He flipped through it, then turned it around and showed Jiraiya a photograph. "That's her?" Jiraiya just nodded, and Nissho's smile turned into a grin. "She's Koyanagi Miyoko, one of the Hidden Valley's newest jounin, a daughter of one of their noble clans. She's also one of the Hidden Waterfall's most wanted."

Jiraiya didn't bother to ask why the Waterfall wanted her. It wasn't any of his business. "I think I see where your thoughts lead, Matsuyo-san," he said.

The commander put the book up. "I think you do as well. Why don't we be of use to each other, Jiraiya-sama? We can help you get the Valley off of your tail, and you can help us bag Koyanagi. Everybody wins."

"You plan to use us as bait," Jiraiya said.

"Precisely." Nissho began to drum his fingers on the desk again. "If the Rice Field border is heating up, they wouldn't dare pull more than a dozen ninja off of it to pursue you. We have that many here. With the help of one of the legendary Sannin, we could easily defeat them."

"On one condition," Jiraiya said after a moment. "We aren't here to get dragged into your war. We'll help you set the trap, but we'll take off as soon as we can get clear." He'd never hear the end of it from Tsunade if she heard that he was getting Naruto involved in a war. Naruto wasn't ready for that, either.

"Fair enough," Nissho answered. He reached into his desk again, this time pulling out a map. "Shall we get to working out the details, then?"

* * *

**Day Twelve**

Jiraiya began to curse fluently at Naruto. "I told you to set up the campfire so it wouldn't smoke, not so it would send up a smoke signal!" he shouted. Naruto began to fiddle with the fire desperately, but this only had the effect of thickening the dark plume of smoke.

The two Leaf ninja were in a fairly good campsite, though one perhaps too close to a road. It was more of a trail than a road, really, but too close for comfort regardless. Still, the nearby lake which provided fresh water and the heavy foliage hid the shore from casual inspection, so it was easy to see why Jiraiya might have chosen this location to stop for lunch. Of course, Naruto's antics with the fire were making the already questionably secure site less so with each passing moment.

Still, eventually the two ninja managed to get the fire under control and the thick smoke drifted away, and Jiraiya set to cooking the fish he had caught earlier. "Why don't you work some on the Whirlwind Counter, boy?" he said after a moment.

"Why?" Naruto asked. "My Whirlwind Shield is just as good!"

Jiraiya knew enough about Naruto to be certain that explaining why the technique he'd been trying to teach Naruto was superior to Naruto's improvised imitation of it would be worse than futile. "Because I said so," Jiraiya answered. That worked from time to time, when Naruto was feeling especially cooperative.

Today was not one of those days. "Why?" Naruto insisted. "Didn't you say that I should only learn techniques for a reason?"

Jiraiya blinked at that, surprised that Naruto had remembered his words to throw back in his face. "You need to work on your chakra control, boy," he said after a moment. "You've probably already got more chakra at your fingertips than the rest of your genin class combined, but you waste so much of it that your effective reserves are smaller than they ought to be." Jiraiya snorted. "You'll probably never have the fine control of a medical ninja - you've got entirely the wrong temperament for that - but that's no reason not to practice it." The fact that most of 'his' chakra was alien to Naruto didn't help either, but this was neither the time nor the place to get into that. "With as much chakra as you have, a little better control will go a long way," finished Jiraiya, looking down to see if Naruto had understood him.

Naruto frowned in thought. "I don't get it," he said finally.

Jiraiya groaned. "Learning better control will make you stronger, and learning the Whirlwind Counter will help you get better control." More accurately, Naruto wouldn't be able to learn the Whirlwind Counter until he had better control. The failure to master the technique would be the motivation Jiraiya could use to goad Naruto into practicing control and focus.

"Ah!" Naruto exclaimed. "Why didn't you just say so?"

"Because I seem to have forgotten that you don't have two brain cells to rub together, boy. I'll try to remember in the future." Jiraiya turned back to the fish as Naruto began to protest, ignoring his griping until the genin gave up and dug Jiraiya's pinwheel out of his pack. Naruto propped the pinwheel up in a mound of dirt and laid on his belly in front of it, his occasional curses of frustration providing an amusing background sound as Jiraiya continued to make lunch.

Time passed, and Jiraiya almost didn't hear the approaching footsteps. A moment too late, he sprang to his feet, screaming a warning at Naruto. Naruto started, but wasn't able to stop Koyanagi Miyoko from picked him up by the back of his orange jumpsuit and placing her drawn katana at his throat. The Valley kunoichi laughed. "I thought you Sound scum were going to be a lot harder to catch," she said.

"We aren't," Naruto began, but he stopped suddenly as the katana at his throat drew closer.

"Are you going to try anything funny, old snake?" Miyoko asked Jiraiya.

A kunai appeared in Jiraiya's hands. "I'm faster than I look, and you're all by yourself, little girl. I wager I could kill you before you could kill the boy."

"You're confident," Miyoko said. "I like that." She nodded, and four more Valley ninja emerged from the undergrowth. "Still going to try something?"

Jiraiya sighed, dropping his kunai and forcing himself to relax. "Do I look like I'm trying something?" he asked.

Miyoko laughed. "Funny, too. I could almost like you, old snake."

"I can't say the feeling's mutual," Jiraiya said. Miyoko only nodded again, and two of her subordinates approached Jiraiya, one circling between him and the lake to cut off a potential escape route. Jiraiya sighed again. "You know, Koyanagi-san, for a jounin you're awfully unobservant."

Miyoko's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Go ahead and drop the act, boy," Jiraiya said, and the shadow replication in Miyoko's arms vanished. The Valley jounin stumbled from the sudden change in weight as a shower of orange-clad clones descended from the trees behind her, attacking the two ninja with her. The two ninja near Jiraiya drew weapons and charged, but the old hermit was ready for them. His hand came up with amazing speed, slamming a quickly forming Rasengan into the first ninja's chest. He kicked at the kunai by his feet, sending it spinning up to his other hand. He caught it easily, moving it into position just in time to block a katana strike from behind.

Meanwhile, one Naruto darted away from the melee engulfing Miyoko and the other two Valley ninja, racing toward Jiraiya. Miyoko swung her sword wildly, disrupting three shadow clones with one strike. "You aren't getting away that easily!" she shouted as she followed.

By the time Naruto reached Jiraiya, the ninja he had been fighting lay unconscious at his feet. "Come on, boy," Jiraiya said as he turned around, and the two ran onto the surface of the lake.

Miyoko growled behind them. "I can play that game too," she said as she followed them onto the lake. Her hands formed a seal around the hilt of her katana and she swung at the air in front of her. Magnified many times by her chakra, the force of the blow shattered the surface of the formerly placid lake. A wall of water sprung into existence, bearing down on the two Leaf ninja rapidly.

Jiraiya acted quickly, grabbing Naruto and leaping into the air, forming seals of his own. "Suiton: Calming the Storm!" As though they had been pressed down by a massive hand, the wild waters settled as rapidly as they had erupted into violence, and Jiraiya landed in the center of the lake.

Miyoko only laughed as she drew nearer. "We have you now, old snake," she said while Jiraiya dropped Naruto, who almost fell into the water before regaining his footing. Jiraiya glanced around. The other two Valley ninja had finished dealing with Naruto's replications and moved rapidly, circling around the fight. They now stood behind the two Leaf ninja, putting the fugitive pair in a tricky situation.

"No," a new voice said suddenly. "We have you now, Koyanagi Miyoko."

Miyoko started as gray clad ninja burst from the lake all around the three Valley ninja. "Waterfall!" she shouted, whirling around at a sudden presence behind her, but too slowly to do any good.

Matsuyo Nissho grinned as his hands rapidly formed seals. "Water Prison Technique!" A globe of water formed from his outstretched hand, completely enclosing the Valley jounin, who swung furiously and futilely at the chakra-charged liquid that imprisoned her. The other two Valley ninja were fighting well, but outnumbered three to one it seemed certain that they would fall.

"We can handle it from here, Jiraiya-sama!" Nissho shouted as he concentrated on keeping the Water Prison intact.

Jiraiya only nodded. "Come on, boy," he said to Naruto, and in an instant the two Leaf ninja were gone from the battlefield.

* * *

To her surprise, Sakura had awoken before Anko. Deciding against braving an attempt to wake her teacher, Sakura did her best to ignore the loud snoring that came from the other tent as she dressed and ate a quick breakfast. When that was done and there had been no sign that Anko planned to awake anytime soon, Sakura decided that it was up to her to make good use of the time on her own.

After slipping her gloves on again, Sakura attempted the Claw of Fire Dragon again, trying to stretch the limit of how far she could project the flames without losing control or weakening them to uselessness. There had to be some sort of trick that she was missing. Perhaps she had to force a tighter mold on the chakra before releasing it? Sakura tried it, but only succeeded in producing a very loud explosion just beyond her fingertips. An interesting result, but the explosion was too weak and too close to her hands to be useful.

Suddenly remembering that Anko was still sleeping, Sakura glanced worriedly at her teacher's tent, but the snoring continued as loud as before. With a sigh, Sakura admitted to herself that as much as she hated the idea, she would have to ask Anko for aid before coming up with any more clever ideas. If she had forced the molding a bit more, she might have blown her hand off. That wasn't something to look forward to.

It was no reason to let the morning go to waste, though. Sighing again, Sakura removed her gloves and rifled through her pack for the scrolls Kakashi had given her before she'd left the village. The first, which she had already stolen away a few hours to study, was less useful than she had hoped. A collection of tips on chakra molding she had already figured out did her little good, though using some of the visualization techniques had made her false replications a little more lifelike, and she'd managed to give one the illusion of substance once. She knew she still had a long way to go before the technique was perfected, though.

After a moment's thought, Sakura opened the second scroll instead. Like the first, it was written in Kakashi's handwriting - either he had prepared the scrolls in advance or he had been up all night before meeting Sakura the morning of her departure. Sakura's eyes widened as she began to read, though. She recognized this technique, and it was surprisingly simple the way Kakashi described it in the scroll. With the right conditions, she ought to be able to pull it off fairly easily. In the wrong conditions -

Sakura started as she heard a footstep behind her. She leapt up from her seat, whirling around and drawing a kunai in one smooth motion. She was somehow only slightly surprised to see Anko standing there, a large snake held in one arm. "Damn it," Anko said cheerily. "I'm sloppy this morning. Promise you won't tell Ibiki you heard me? He'll never let me forget it if he finds out I couldn't sneak up on a genin."

"Ibiki?" Sakura asked, not recognizing the name.

"He was the examiner for the first test during the last Chuunin Exams," Anko said. "You know him. The soft one."

Sakura did remember Morino Ibiki now. "Soft!"

"Well, he let your team pass, didn't he?" Anko asked, her voice still cheery.

"So did you," Sakura muttered without thinking.

Anko frowned. "You're right. I'll have to make it up. I promise you won't pass next time, okay?" The snake in her hand began to free itself from her grip, coiling up her arm. Anko didn't seem to notice at first, until the snake's opened its mouth to bite. She grabbed the snake with her other hand, casually flinging it into the underbrush.

Sakura finally realized that the snoring was still coming from Anko's tent, and she glanced curiously at it. Anko smiled, gesturing vaguely, and the sound cut off suddenly. "Simple genjutsu," she explained. "You were so caught up in being a good little bookworm that you didn't notice me get up."

Sakura sighed. "Are we leaving now?" she asked.

Anko shook her head. "No reason to stop the little study session you started. We've still got some time to play with before we'll be unreasonably late, and I'd like to have you be a little less pathetic when we show up."

"I tried to strengthen the chakra mold to project the flames farther out, but it didn't work," Sakura forced herself to admit.

Anko laughed. "Bad idea. You want to do the opposite. Loosen up a little and let the chakra spin."

"You could have told me this earlier," Sakura said.

"This way's more fun," Anko replied with a grin. "Just be careful not to loosen up too much or even you won't have any control at all."

Sakura muttered a few choice unkind words as she retrieved her gloves and began to prepare herself. After a few false starts, she began to get the hang of it, nearly doubling her range, though she was still unable to maintain the fiery claws for more than few seconds. Still that was enough the get in a good hit, she judged. She might not be able to pull off anything fancy like Anko had when she'd demonstrated the technique, but that was still pretty good for so little time spent learning.

Anko watched her practice, yawning widely. Then she snapped her fingers. "I know how to make this a little more interesting," she said and Sakura's eyes widened in fear. "That genjutsu Hatake is teaching you, do it, and try and make the replications look like they're doing the technique also."

"But that technique uses up so much of my chakra -" Sakura's protests were cut off as Anko kept talking.

"The only way to increase your chakra reserves is to stretch them." Anko grinned. "I don't know if you've noticed, but you've already burned more chakra this morning than in that entire match back in the preliminaries." Her grin widened maliciously. "Though that says more about how abysmal you were then than about how good you are now."

"I wasn't exactly at full strength then," Sakura grumbled. "I'd kind of just spent five days in that forest."

"Excuses, excuses," Anko said with a wave of a hand. "You going to follow your teacher's orders or not?"

Sakura closed her eyes, forcing herself to calm down and run through the visualization techniques Kakashi had given her. Her hands moved through the seals slowly as she concentrated on control, trying to use as little chakra as possible. "Perfect Replication Technique." Four Sakura appeared in a line with the original, two on each side.

Anko gazed up and down the line with a critical gaze. "They're a little misty," she commented. She suddenly pushed her hand straight through one replication's chest. "And always be ready to fake the feeling of contact," she commented. "You never know what your opponent will do next." She stepped aside. "All right," she said. "Give it a try."

Sakura formed the seal for the Claw of the Fire Dragon and the replications followed suit as she began to dredge up as much chakra as she could. When the flames emerged from her hand, they were weak, pale things, but they also emerged from each clone. Anko waved a hand near one. "Heat, Sakura-chan," she said. "Remember the heat!"

Sakura's brow furrowed, and Anko yanked her hand away. "Better." Feeling her control about to slip, Sakura released the seal and the flames vanished. Anko grinned again. "Now to make this really fun," she said, falling into a ready stance. "Do it again, and try and land a hit on me. I'll even pretend I can't tell which ones are the fakes to make it easier."

"But if I hit," Sakura began, only to stop as Anko laughed.

"I might not be a full jounin like Hatake, but I'm more than good enough to handle anything you can throw at me," Anko said. "Go ahead."

Sakura had her fake replications circle around Anko, who merely stood still, glancing about to keep track of her opponents. Sakura considered a ranged attack, but she realized that would most likely be futile. Before she could come up with a plan, Anko moved, hurling a shuriken at each Sakura.

Sakura's hand went to her kunai before she remembered Kakashi's intentional mistake when he had first shown her the Perfect Replication Technique. Her replications couldn't actually parry the shuriken, so Anko would be able to use that to "guess" which Sakura was real. Sakura threw herself to one side, and her replications dodged the attacks as well - some having to move faster than Sakura actually could to get out of the way in time.

She couldn't let Anko take and stay on the offensive, Sakura knew, but how to attack? After a moments thought, Sakura concentrated, and one fake replication formed a seal with one hand and sprouted fiery claws from the other. It darted in to attack Anko, who laughed, dancing between the strands of false fire as the replication struck. The jounin countered with a kick to the replication's face, but Sakura had it cartwheel back rapidly to avoid the attack.

Anko paused to wipe her forehead. "You're getting better with the heat, Sak -"

Sakura's fist planted itself in Anko's back, taking advantage of the special jounin's apparent distraction. There was a burst of white smoke, and Sakura cursed as she felt the rough texture of wood through her glove. Where had Anko gone?

"Above you!" Anko called out happily as she hurled three kunai with pinpoint accuracy at Sakura.

Using the little chakra she hadn't committed to the genjutsu she was maintaining, Sakura used the replacement technique herself, leaving the same log Anko had used behind to be "killed" by the kunai. As her clones congregated near Anko's likely landing point, Sakura considered her next move. The strain of keeping the Perfect Replication Technique active was already telling on her. With so little free chakra, how was she supposed to hit a jounin?

Before she landed, Anko spun around in midair, her foot sweeping through the replications. Sakura struggled to provide a feeling of contact and an appropriate reaction from the clones, but she wasn't fast enough. The last fake Sakura just stood there as Anko's boot passed through her chest, and the others' movements were only slightly more convincing. Anko laughed again as she landed. "I have you now," she said, pointing at the real Sakura. "Hidden Snake Hands!" Four snakes sprung out of the sleeve of Anko's coat, mouths wide open as they sped through the air towards Sakura, growing impossibly long in the process.

Sakura darted to one side, but to no avail as the snakes followed her. She imagined that she could see venom glistening on their fangs as they drew nearer. Her quick mind raced through options and only one came to her. She could only hope she still had enough chakra to pull it off. She whirled about to face the onrushing snakes suddenly, a seal formed in one hand. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" Driven by her near-panic, the fire came out stronger than she had imagined. She only held it for barely more than a second, but that was long enough to slice off the heads of the snakes. Then, drained of chakra, she fell to her knees, the forgotten replications near Anko vanishing without even a puff of smoke.

The headless snakes slowly retracted themselves, vanishing into Anko's sleeve. "I didn't think you had enough chakra to pull that off," she commented. "I guess we can call that a success." She smiled. "Well, let's get packed and moving, then, shall we?"

Sakura, panting, just glared at the jounin.

* * *

**Day Thirteen**

It was late afternoon the next day when Anko and Sakura arrived at their destination. The clan fortress was larger than Sakura had expected, looming over the port town that had sprung up around it like a giant. On closer inspection, though, it was in poor repair. It seemed to have been gutted by fire many years ago, and only a small section had been fixed and maintained since then. Given Anko's story, that made sense, Sakura decided. A once-prosperous clan had been reduced to a handful of people - perhaps only two.

The town was not walled; instead the buildings just spread farther and farther apart as one got farther from the shore until some poorly defined line was crossed and they became households on the town's outskirts. Anko seemed to know precisely where they were going, and Sakura had to struggle to keep up with her rapid pace as the buildings and crowds thickened.

As they drew nearer to the castle, it became apparent that it was actually built on an island at the entrance to the port, rather than on the shore as it had first seemed to Sakura. When they reached the port itself, Anko walked without hesitation to a small wharf off to one side, where a lean woman in dark clothing was sitting on a stool, idly flipping through a familiar-seeming book. The woman looked up as Anko stepped onto the wharf, then paled and jumped to her feet, dropping the book. She bowed, saying, "Mitarashi-sama! My apologies, but I just sent the boat over to the fortress with supplies. If we'd known that you were arriving today -"

Anko interrupted her with a sigh. "It isn't your fault, Shiomi-san. Don't worry about it."

As the two older women began to discuss how long it would take for the boat to return, Sakura crept over to the stool Shiomi had abandoned, picking up the book. Her face flushed as she read the title, realizing why the book had seemed familiar. "Icha Icha Paradise For Girls?" she muttered quietly to herself.

"Sakura-chan, you pervert!" Anko exclaimed sweetly, peering over her student's shoulder.

Sakura jumped, dropping the book like a hot potato and turning to face her. Behind Anko, the other women was staring at the wooden boards beneath her feet, her face scarlet. "I wasn't - I was just looking because it looked familiar."

"You spend a lot of time reading these?" Anko asked. "I thought you couldn't even buy them at your age."

Sakura thought that her face couldn't get any redder. "No, but Kakashi-sensei does!"

Anko pursed her lips thoughtfully. "He does seem the type. Probably learned it from his teacher." Anko grinned. "Now there was a pervert. He tried to hit on me once, but O - my teacher put the fear of the gods into him. Shame. He was kind of hot."

"Mitarashi-sama!" Shiomi exclaimed. "Please!" Sakura agreed with the sentiment, but she already knew that protesting was the best way to make sure that Anko wouldn't get bored of this topic.

Anko turned to face the other woman, then suddenly deflated. "All right," she said, and Sakura's eyes widened. Sure, she hadn't known Anko for very long, but she'd never seen the special jounin back down like that. "We'll be back in a bit, then," was all she said before turning and heading back toward the town.

Sakura followed after a moment, glancing backward to see Shiomi nervously picking up her book. Anko stopped suddenly, and Sakura almost ran into her back before noticing. "Here we go," Anko said, and Sakura finally noticed that they had reached a small dango shop.

"Couldn't we go somewhere where we can get something a little better to eat?" Sakura asked, her stomach rumbling.

Anko looked mortally offended. "This is the best dango shop in the entire Fire Country! There is nowhere better to eat!"

Sakura sighed as she followed her teacher into the shop. It was empty except for the two people behind the counter: an old woman and a young man who seemed close to Anko's age. They both looked up as Anko seated herself at a seat in front of the counter and Sakura followed suit.

"Anko-chan!" the woman exclaimed happily. "I'd heard you were coming back, but I thought you'd be heading to the fortress first."

Anko laughed a laugh that Sakura hadn't heard her make before, a good-natured laugh without even a hint of malicious glee. "You know me, Auntie. Dango always come first."

The young man shook his head sadly. "You're lucky you're a ninja, Anko-chan. Otherwise you'd get fat and all the boys would avoid you."

Anko pouted. "Even you, Arata-kun?"

The man grinned. "Probably," he answered as he plopped a tray of dango in front of the two ninja.

Sakura couldn't stop staring at Anko, who was acting so unlike herself. The woman behind the counter finally noticed her, peering curiously at her forehead protector. "And who are you?" she asked.

"Ah, Haruno Sakura," she answered after a moment. "I'm Mitarashi-sensei's student."

The woman grinned widely. "Did they finally give you a genin team, Anko-chan?"

Anko shook her head. "Just her," she answered. "I'm still only a special jounin, but I'm going to try for full jounin in the next exam."

The woman sighed sadly. "Anko-chan, that's what you said last time you were here. If you'd just stop being so nervous and actually take the exam, I'm sure you'd pass."

"I hope you're right," Anko said.

Sakura tried to imagine Anko as being too nervous to take an exam, even the Jounin Exam, and failed miserably. It just didn't match with anything else she'd seen of Anko. Why was she acting like an entirely different person here? Sakura opened her mouth, only to catch a hint of a warning glare in Anko's eyes. Sakura closed her mouth rapidly.

"That was fast," the man said. For a moment, Sakura thought he had noticed, but then she saw that at some point during this conversation the entire tray of dango had vanished. Her eyes widened. It really was like visiting a ramen shop with Naruto.

Anko grinned. "We don't have much time," she said. "Just until the boat gets back from the island." Anko rose. "Which should be soon."

The woman shook her head. "Don't spend your whole visit cooped up in there again, Anko-chan. Come and visit us." She grinned. "Bring your student, but let her get something to eat next time, okay? If you let her starve, they'll never give you a full team."

Anko grin turned embarrassed. "Right," she said as she headed for the exit. Sakura followed, only to once again nearly run into Anko's back when the older ninja stopped suddenly and turned back. "Auntie? Arata-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for being the only people in this town who don't call me Mitarashi-sama," Anko said.

"I don't think your grandmother calls you Mitarashi-sama," Arata said.

"No, she calls me 'Mitarashi Anko, explain yourself immediately!'" Anko replied. "That's just as bad." Arata laughed, and Anko turned away again. "Come on, Sakura-chan."

Sakura followed her back to the wharf, peering quizzically at the special jounin's back. That sudden change of personality was like nothing she had seen before, except... the way that Naruto could get sometimes when he visited that ramen stand near his apartment. It wasn't as vast as Anko's change, but there was a definite difference at those times. Even in the numerous tales of great pranks of the past Naruto had told her, much to her secret amusement, she had never heard him describing one involving that place. Sakura's eyes widened as she considered that her long-ago initial assessment of Anko as "kind of Naruto-ish" might have been more accurate than she had thought.

Anko didn't say anything until they reached the wharf, where a small boat was now tied up. Shiomi stood nervously, her book nowhere to be seen. "Mitarashi-sama! You're right on time."

"Good," Anko said sharply. "Let's get going."

In a surprisingly short time, they were aboard and on their way to the fortress. The boat moved swiftly through the water, but it was obvious that the sun would finish setting before they reached the island fortress. Sakura considered asking Anko for more information, but one look at her teacher made her decide that the jounin was in no mood to talk.

They were almost at the fortress when Anko suddenly spoke. "I almost forgot," she said quietly. "The Mitarashi Clan - what's left of it, anyway - still follows the old religion. That won't be a problem, will it?"

Like most of the Leaf Village, Sakura's mother hadn't been a devout follower of either the old ways or the new gods, and she had passed that on to her daughter. Even if she had, though, this was still a mission. "Of course not," Sakura said.

"Good," Anko said. "That's one less problem."

Nothing more passed between them until they reached the island, where two more black-clad women waited for them. "The elder wishes to see you immediately, Mitarashi-sama," one of them said.

"Of course," Anko said, though Sakura noticed her tensing slightly.

As the woman who had spoken lead them through the halls of the fortress, Sakura asked quietly "What's wrong?"

"Something," Anko answered softly, her lips hardly moving. "Normally Grandmother would wait until morning."

Sakura's mind began to race through possibilities. A coup? "Do you know all the retainers we've seen?" she asked, after checking that the third woman was far enough ahead that she couldn't hear.

Anko nodded. "They're loyal," she said. Anko grimaced. "I'd worry that the old woman was about to die, but we're heading for the audience chambers, not the sickroom."

"That's no way to talk about your grandmother," Sakura hissed.

"Wait until you meet her," was all Anko said.

The woman they were following stopped in front of a pair of double doors and opened one, gesturing for the two ninja to enter. she shut the door behind them, not entering herself. The audience chamber was cloaked in shadow, the only light a circle of candles set around a small throne. A wizened old woman sat on it, and she cackled as Anko and Sakura approached. "You're late, Anko."

Anko knelt as she entered the circle of light, and Sakura followed suit a second later. "My apologies, Grandmother. I was on a mission when your letter arrived, but I came as quickly as I could when I received it."

"Rise," Anko's grandmother said after a moment.

Anko stood, but placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder to keep her from standing as well. "Grandmother, please allow me to present my student, Haruno Sakura of the Hidden Village of the Leaf."

Sakura heard a door open off to one side, and the old woman cackled again. "You'll never guess who showed up after all these years, Anko," she said, ignoring Anko's statement.

Another woman stepped into the light. She had the same purple hair and dark eyes that Anko did, though her hair was cut short in an almost boyish fashion. A little older-seeming than Anko, she wore a dark red shirt and pants. A curved blade slightly longer than a standard kunai was sheathed on each of her legs, and Sakura could see a pouch for carrying shuriken and other tools on her back.

Anko's eyes widened, and Sakura could hear her sharp breath. "Big sister?" she asked, disbelief in her voice.

The woman in question smiled widely. "It's been a long time, Anko."

Anko's hand, still on Sakura's shoulder, was clenched so tightly that it was almost painful. "Where have you been all this time, Kimi?" Anko asked, her voice tight. "I thought you were dead."

"I could say the same to you, Anko," Mitarashi Kimi said. "I've been traveling since I escaped from the Sand. I never had the courage to come back here until recently." She looked her sister up and down, her eyes resting briefly on Anko's forehead protector. "You've grown up well."

Their grandmother laughed again. "I wanted to tell you why I sent for you in the letter, but Kimi-chan wanted to surprise you."

"I see," Anko said, slowly releasing her grip on Sakura, who resisted the urge to rub her aching shoulder.

"This is your student?" Kimi asked, curiosity in her voice.

Anko took a deep breath, and nodded. "As I was saying when you arrived, sister, this is my student, Haruno Sakura of the Hidden Village of the Leaf." She paused. "As you commanded, Grandmother, I brought her."

Kimi's eyes narrowed as she studied Sakura, who forced herself not to flinch. "Haruno Sakura, huh?" the older Mitarashi sister said slowly. Then she smiled widely, gesturing behind her. A girl Sakura hadn't noticed before stepped forward into the light. "Allow me to introduce my student, Shimano Ren."

Sakura studied the new girl carefully. She had dark hair and blue eyes, and was dressed in a style not dissimilar to what Sakura had worn before she had adjusted her usual outfit to compensate for the weights she now wore. Sakura noted the hilt of a kunai poking out through a slit in the side of Ren's short, blue dress, and noticed that the girl's hand never strayed far from it. She certainly held herself like a ninja, even if like her teacher she wore no forehead protector.

"Your student may rise, Anko," the Mitarashi elder said after a moment, and Sakura complied with the implied command, her gaze still not leaving the other girl, who was returning her scrutiny with equal fervor.

"I believe you see the problem this presents, Anko," the elder continued after a moment. "By the ancient traditions of our family, as the eldest daughter of my eldest daughter, Kimi-chan and, through her, her students are the heirs to the clan and this island."

Anko stiffened. "By the agreement you signed with the Hidden Leaf, I and, through me, my students and are the heirs to the clan and the island." Sakura's eyes widened. Anko hadn't mentioned anything about that.

Anko's grandmother waved a wrinkled hand. "It was signed under the impression that Kimi-chan was dead."

"Do you think that the Leaf will accept it if you violate the agreement?" Anko asked quietly.

"Are you a Mitarashi or a Leaf?" Kimi said sharply.

"I am both," Anko answered. "And I do not wish to see the Leaf and the Mitarashi go to war." Sakura's eyes widened further, as she considered this. Anko had mentioned that the agreement covered the Leaf's control of the strategic port this island commanded. If that control was threatened, the Leaf would have to react. But why would Anko assume that her sister would simply break the agreement rather than just renegotiate the terms of the deal slightly?

"The Mist were allies of the Mitarashi before," Kimi said, and Sakura noticed what she should have before. The older Mitarashi sister spoke with a slight Water Country accent. Was that why Anko had assumed that she would deny the Leaf access? It seemed an awfully large leap of logic. Kimi continued, "They will come to our aid if the need occurs, and the Leaf will not dare risk a real war in their weakened state."

Anko ignored this, turning instead to her grandmother. "Did you simply call me here to tell me of your intention to break the agreement, Grandmother?"

"No, Anko, that would not be fair to you or the Leaf." The old woman laughed again, a sound that Sakura was rapidly becoming annoyed with. "It seems only proper that a contest be held, to demonstrate mastery of our clan's techniques to determine which heir will best serve the Mitarashi." Kimi seemed as surprised at this declaration as Anko.

"You wish Kimi and I to fight?" Anko asked, disbelief in her voice.

"No." Her grandmother smiled. "I wish to see your students perform." Sakura swallowed. This did not sound good.

"Ren?" Kimi asked, glancing at her student.

"As you wish, Mitarashi-sensei," the girl answered quietly, her voice soft but firm. There was no hint of nervousness in her eyes as she gazed at Sakura.

"Well, Anko?" Kimi asked. "Are you willing to have your student demonstrate her mastery of our clan's techniques?" Her voice was lightly mocking, as though she expected Anko to back down.

"Under what conditions?" Anko asked.

"In the examination hall," the elder answered, "to yield or unconsciousness. There's no need for a death match."

Anko leaned over and whispered in Sakura's ear. "Can you do this?"

"There's only one way to find out," Sakura whispered back. She raised her voice. "I accept," she said, returning Ren's gaze as confidently as she could. A thrill of pride ran through her as the other girl frowned, her eyes suddenly narrowing.

The Mitarashi Clan elder laughed again. "Very well, then. The battle shall commence in the morning, the day after tomorrow."

* * *

**Day Fourteen**

The gates of the border fortress swallowed the road like a great beast snatching up a hapless prey animal. Filling the gap between two steep hills, it was perhaps the ugliest building Naruto had ever seen - a giant block of gray stone with no decoration of any sort. It was as though the only direction those building the fort had received was to block the road, and they had set about doing it as efficiently as possible. Naruto could see the crowds clustered around the gates, waiting often impatiently for the guards to inspect them and admit them into the Earth Country.

"Are we going to go around?" Naruto asked, waving a hand at the hills surrounding them.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "There are traps all over the pass," he said. "I'm not sure even the Rock ninja can get through it without using the road, and we certainly couldn't. If we're going to go into the Earth Country, we're going to have to pass through the fort. That's why it's there."

"So then, why'd you take us off the road?" Naruto asked.

"There aren't any traps this close to the road," Jiraiya said. "Otherwise there'd be too many accidents. I took us out of sight because someone might notice if we'd transformed in the middle of the road."

"Transform?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya stared levelly at his apprentice. "I know you know the transformation technique, boy."

"Well, yeah," Naruto said. "But why are we going to transform?"

Jiraiya sighed. "Who's been looking for us?"

Naruto frowned. "The Valley ninja."

"And the allies of the Valley are?"

Naruto seemed to think for a moment. "The Rock ninja."

"And the Rock ninja are from?"

"Earth Country!"

"And where are trying to go to?"

"Earth Country!" Naruto repeated.

"Do you understand why we need to transform?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto frowned again. "No," he said simply.

Jiraiya let out another sigh. "You are hopeless sometimes. The Valley ninja could have given the Rock ninja our descriptions, so the border guards might be looking for us too. We have to transform so they won't recognize us."

Naruto nodded. "Why didn't you say so?" his hands forming a seal. "Transform!" Where Naruto had stood was now a man almost a foot taller than Jiraiya and probably a hundred pounds heavier. "How's this?" he asked in a deep, booming voice.

"Terrible," Jiraiya said.

Naruto inspected himself carefully. "I don't see anything wrong," he said. "I'm good at this technique!"

"Yes, but did you pay any attention to how to use it well?" Jiraiya asked.

"Huh?"

Jiraiya winced at the loud voice. "Release that and I'll explain." Once Naruto was back to his normal self, Jiraiya seated himself on a convenient rock, and a moment later the genin plopped himself onto the ground. "There are ways a good ninja who's paying attention can notice a transformation and see through it," Jiraiya said. "The border guards will almost certainly be trained in them."

"What?" Naruto protested. "Then what good is transforming?"

"There's a trick - well, two tricks actually. The first is to not give the ninja any reason to pay attention to you, but that doesn't always work." Jiraiya shook his head. "We can't count on that. The second trick is to keep the transformation as close to what you really look like as possible. The less you actually transform, the harder it is to see through."

"Why?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya pondered the best way to explain it. "Seeing through a transformation doesn't happen all at once," he said after a long moment. "You start to notice little things that don't add up right or see part of what's really there for a hundredth of a second. If the transformation is close to reality, though, there's less stuff that's wrong to see."

Naruto was lost in thought for what seemed an eternity, but was probably only a very short while in fact. "I think I get it," he said slowly. "It's like how a big prank like painting Hokage Mountain gets noticed instantly, so you get caught; but a small one like changing a couple labels on the files in the teachers' office won't be, so most of the time they never find out who did it!"

Jiraiya probably shouldn't have been surprised by Naruto's choice of metaphor, but he was. He was more surprised by the fact that the metaphor worked and showed he understood the concept, though. "Precisely, boy. Maybe you've grown an extra brain cell or two."

Naruto seemed uncertain whether to feel complimented or insulted, and wound up just looking confused. "So, what do we turn into, then?" he asked.

"Hmm," Jiraiya said, pondering just that. "First, we lose the orange." Jiraiya smiled. "That's precisely the wrong color for this kind of thing."

* * *

Yamakita Toju hated dealing with Valley ninja. He knew that they were allies of the Rock, but sometimes he daydreamed about leading a raid on their pathetic little village and wiping it off of the map. Maybe they could trade them to the Leaf and get the Waterfall back instead. From the way the Valley ninja constantly showed up here at their border with the Earth Country begging for aid in their own arrogant way, the Waterfall must have been excellent ninja.

Toju had thought being appointed to second-in-command of the border crossing on only his third posting as a chuunin had meant he'd been on the fast track for further promotions. Instead he'd been stuck here for almost two years now, dealing with all the awful jobs the jounin commander couldn't be bothered to handle. At least when he was dealing with insubordinate genin or independent ninja looking to join the Rock he could take it out on them. When he had to meet with messengers from the Valley, he had to be polite - and that was by far the worst part.

In this case, the Valley had sent a full three-man squad, so the message had to be of some importance. Toju lead the Valley ninja to a secluded alcove where he could still keep an eye on the guards manning the gates - there were two new genin on that duty now and he needed to make sure they didn't mess things up. "What brings you here now?" he asked his visitors after making sure that no one suspicious was in earshot. "The usual meeting isn't until next week."

One of the three - likely the leader of the squad, though Toju had seen none of them before, so he couldn't stay for sure - spoke. "We have reason to believe that two Sound agents have or are about to infiltrate the Earth Country."

"Oh?" Toju asked. This should at least be interesting.

"Our border forces intercepted two Sound ninja near the Rice Field border," the man continued. "They fled and dodged pursuit, and before we lost them they were headed in this direction."

"I see," Toju murmured. It figured that the Valley couldn't stop two ninja from crossing their entire country. Incompetents, the lot of them. "I don't suppose you have any information that might help us catch these dangerous spies, do you?" he asked. He glanced up, his eyes briefly following a nice-looking young blonde in a black dress the guards had just let through. Too bad she already had a man. Toju wondered whether he was her brother or boyfriend, but decided it didn't matter as his attention returned to his visitors.

One of the other Valley ninja had pulled two scrolls from his jacket. Toju accepted and opened them, discovering two simple, quickly colored sketches. Whoever had drawn them wouldn't be winning any art contests any time soon, Toju decided. The first seemed to be an old man, while the second was a young kid. "Truly the faces of great ninja," he said, and the Valley ninja stiffened. "Very well," Toju said. "We shall find these two if they enter Earth Country; have no fears." He paused. "The Hidden Rock thank you for the warning."

The Valley ninja took the hint and left promptly, a Toju smiled as he overheard a snippet of their conversation. It was so much fun to insult the Valley while not saying anything that they could actually call him on. Gazing at the pictures once more, he sighed. Another problem had been added to his plate. Oh well. He knew just just the people to give it to.

Yes, he thought to himself. Let those three use those once-lost techniques they constantly boasted of and prove their clan deserved the new chance the Tsuchikage had given them. They'd probably even thank him for the opportunity. Toju glanced back at the pictures in his hand. For a moment, he thought they looked a little familiar, but the feeling passed quickly.

* * *

Sakura resisted the urge to yawn as she followed Anko out of the small chapel. She was all for respecting religion, but even the most boring classes were easy to sit through compared to hours of mumbling in an archaic language. Anko had suggested that she attend this morning's services with her, in order to show respect for the clan's traditions. It was a sound point, but Sakura had to notice that neither Mitarashi Kimi nor her student had spent their morning at prayer. At least, they hadn't prayed there. The only saving grace was that watching Anko's struggle to remain awake had been highly amusing in its own fashion. By all appearances, Anko had adopted the Leaf Village's rather casual attitude towards religion instead of maintaining the rituals of her youth.

Sakura noticed that the two of them were alone in the corridor that linked the chapel with the tower in which both sets of guests had been given rooms. The closeness of the two competing factions had made for a rather restless night, as Sakura had spent much of it wondering whether an attempt would be made to eliminate her before the scheduled match. There had been no such attempt, but Sakura still wasn't certain she'd get much sleep tonight either.

After checking once again to ensure that none of the universally black-clad Mitarashi Clan retainers were present, Sakura turned to Anko. "Umm... Mitarashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. This had been bugging her since last night, and this seemed a good time to ask.

"What?" Anko inquired after a moment.

"Last night, you seemed to realize that there would be trouble as soon as your sister showed up, even before she started talking about the Mist. Why?"

Anko's face was tight. "First, if there wasn't going to be trouble they would have told me she was alive in the letter and there would have been no need to bring you." She paused, as though pondering her next words with much greater thought than she usually did. "Second, Kimi hates the Leaf. She'll never accept the deal Grandmother made."

"Why?" Sakura asked after a moment.

"During the war," Anko answered slowly, "the clan and the Leaf weren't on very good terms. Mist ships were allowed to use our port for resupply, and the Leaf tried a couple of times to close it. Kimi and I... our parents were killed in one of those battles."

"That... your parents?" Sakura asked. "But you - how could you be a Leaf ninja then?"

"Twice in my life," Anko said, "when I thought I had lost everything, the Leaf have given me a reason to live. I will be repaying that debt until the day I die." The special jounin's eyes were distant, and she seemed to have forgotten that she was talking to Sakura.

"Twice?" Sakura asked without thinking. The first would be when the Leaf jounin had found her after the destruction of her clan, but the second?

Anko shook herself from her apparent reverie. "That's none of your business, Sakura-chan," she said after a moment.

"What about me, Anko-chan?" Sakura started, looking up to see Mitarashi Kimi leaning on the wall a few feet from the stairs up to the tower, idly playing with one of her long blades in a manner eerily reminiscent of Anko's own habit with her kunai. How much had she heard?

Anko stiffened. "It's no concern of yours, either."

Kimi smiled lazily, and Sakura shivered. There was menace in that smile - not the playful malice she had seen on Anko's face, but something much worse. "Is that any way to talk, little sister?"

"What do you want?" Anko asked bluntly.

Kimi tossed her weapon into the air, letting it spin a few times before easily catching it by the hilt. "I was thinking we could go off somewhere by ourselves - say, the examination hall - and... talk. Catch up."

"Sakura," Anko said flatly. "Go back to the rooms."

"But -" Sakura began, eying Kimi nervously.

"Go." Anko smiled a smile to match her sister's. "Kimi and I have some talking to do in private."

Sakura looked nervously at her temporary teacher, but after a moment decided she had no choice but to comply. Anko was a special jounin, after all. She could take care of herself. Sakura tensed as she passed Kimi, but the other Mitarashi sister barely glanced as she passed. As she began to ascend the stairs, Sakura half-expected to hear the sounds of fighting from below but heard nothing. Somehow that was almost more disturbing.

When she reached the floor both sets of guest chambers were on, Sakura stepped into the hallway, then froze as she saw the dark-haired girl who was heading for the stairs. The other girl stopped also, her hand flicking to the hilt of her kunai. After a long moment, she relaxed, looking curiously at Sakura. "Your name is Haruno Sakura, is it?" she asked. As last night, her voice was soft, but there was no weakness in it.

"Yes," Sakura answered, forcing herself to relax and walk closer to the person she was to fight tomorrow. "You are Shimano Ren?" The question was more for politeness than for an answer, for Sakura remembered last night's meeting clearly.

"That is correct," Ren said, openly studying Sakura. Her eyes fell on Sakura's forehead protector, though being slightly shorter than Sakura herself she could not see it clearly. "You are from the Hidden Leaf?"

Sakura nodded. Hadn't the other girl paid attention last night?

Ren seemed to be at a loss for words for a moment, glancing out a window. "I had not heard of a Haruno Clan in the Leaf," she ventured finally, her gaze returning to Sakura.

"We're... not a very big clan," Sakura said. Not a clan at all was a more accurate description. "There's no reason you would have." Sakura forced herself to smile. "I grew up in the Leaf Village, and I doubt I would have heard of the Haruno if I wasn't one."

"Is that so?" Ren asked. She said nothing more, clearly lost in thought.

It seemed to be up to Sakura to continue the conversation or let it end. "Umm... how did you come to be with your teacher?"

Ren blinked, as though she had not expected Sakura to ask a question herself. She seemed to consider her answer a moment. "I wanted to become a ninja," she said, "and Mitarashi-sensei was willing to teach me."

Sakura looked Ren up and down. "I see," she said awkwardly after a moment. It was hard to talk to someone she knew she would be fighting the next day.

Ren seemed to feel the same way, and she was silent for a long moment. Her mouth quirked up into a smile. "I feel like I should wish you good luck," she said, "but that seems somewhat inappropriate."

Sakura laughed despite herself. "It probably would be." She paused. While Ren's teacher made her nervous, Ren herself seemed to be a nice girl. After a long moment, she spoke again. "No hard feelings tomorrow?" she asked.

Ren seemed to weigh the question for a long time. "No hard feelings," she said finally. Then she nodded firmly. "Good day, Haruno-san."

Sakura's eyes followed her as the other girl walked over to the stairs, then Sakura turned away and headed to her room, her mind already considering tomorrow's fight. Somehow she doubted that there was much sleep in her future.

* * *

Author's Random Rambling

1) This chapter did not take nearly so long to write as I thought it would. It's amazing what making a cup of tea and unplugging the Internet can do for writing speed. For most of the writing I thought this chapter would be a little shorter than the first, but instead it's about 20 longer. I'm not quite sure how that happened.

2) Careful readers may have already noted that I'm bringing characters from another filler (the bikouchu arc) into this. Despite my rather horrid record at avoiding them in my works, I prefer to keep the number of original characters as low as possible. These three characters nicely filled a hole in my plans, so in they come. It's worth noting, though, that this story does still diverge from the anime before that filler arc, and the events of that arc did not occur.

3) As always, I welcome any and all forms of C&C.

Draft Started: November 17, 2005

Draft Finished: November 28, 2005

Draft Released: November 29, 2005

Final Released: December 2, 2005


	4. Chapter 3: Distant Thunder

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 3: Distant Thunder

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, ligers. Insane cyborg ligers. With laser-claws.

* * *

**Day Fifteen**

Yakushi Kabuto was highly disappointed in the security of the Fire Country. He had expected to have at least once tested the cover story that he'd carefully designed for this trip, particularly given that he was crossing over from the Rice Field Country. The Fire Country, after all, was technically at war with the Rice Field still, even if there hadn't been much in the way of real battles since the failed attack on the Leaf Village almost six months ago. However, he'd not seen a single Leaf ninja since he'd crossed the border at the Valley of the End - a historic sight he'd always meant to see, but had never gotten around to visiting before.

He'd been dutifully impressed by the damage the monuments had suffered. It was blatantly obvious from the evidence that large amounts of raw power and comparatively little control had featured in the most recent duel to be fought there. Kabuto was of the opinion that the way one fought said a lot about one's personality. No longer did he wonder why Orochimaru had been forced to discipline his newest apprentice so harshly. Uchiha Sasuke's mental stability had clearly degenerated badly between the Chuunin Exam and his defection, and corrective measures would have to be taken. When he returned to the Sound Village, Kabuto planned to suggest a few appropriate drug cocktails, though he expected Orochimaru would refuse. His master preferred more traditional methods of reforging his weapons to best serve his ends.

Now, finally, Kabuto had reached where he was to deliver his master's message, and he was once again disappointed. He was certain that this was the right hill, with the right pattern of trees with the right markings on their trunks. He had double-checked and searched the surrounding hilltops, yet there was no sign of his contact to be found. Kabuto was beginning to get annoyed, a feeling he preferred to clear himself of by eliminating the source. This time, though, he knew that was not an option. Orochimaru's punishment for such a betrayal at this stage would make the young Uchiha's recent experiences seem more than pleasant, and that was not something that Kabuto wished for himself. Far from it.

Kabuto frowned as his finely-honed senses easily detected the two intruders rapidly approaching him. He caught a quick glimpse of them as they began to climb the hill. Both were far too young to be his contact. Was this a betrayal? Unlikely, he judged. These two couldn't be more than genin, both by their age and the way they moved. It would be unusual arrogance on the part of the Leaf to send two genin to collect his head. The latest bingo book the Sound had captured had listed Kabuto as an A-rank criminal, correcting the mistake of earlier versions which had relied on his deliberately poor records as a Leaf genin and ranked him much lower.

It was always better to be safe, though, and Kabuto carefully secreted himself in a tree as the pair neared the hilltop. They were a boy and a girl - both seemed to be at most fourteen years old and neither wore a forehead protector. However, Kabuto noticed the slightly lighter skin where one would have sat on the boy's forehead, and he smiled as he continued to study the pair.

The two walked to the center of the hilltop, and then the boy made an exaggerated recognition sign - the one that had been arranged with his contact. The boy spun around slowly so that Kabuto would have been able to see the sign no matter where he hid. "We have come," the boy said, "to deliver a message to you from our teacher." Kabuto decided not to show himself, at least for now.

The boy spun around once more, then grimaced, dropping the recognition sign. "I guess he's not here. What should we -" He stopped talking suddenly as his companion laid a hand on his shoulder.

"He's here," the girl said, her bright eyes darting about the hilltop. "I can feel him watching us."

Kabuto smiled. The girl was perceptive, at least.

The boy seemed to be almost as impatient as another young boy of Kabuto's acquaintance. "Then why doesn't he come out?" he asked his companion, looking about futilely. The girl paled.

"I'm right behind you," Kabuto said from where he had silently landed. The boy jumped, practically spinning around in midair to face him. His mouth opened, no doubt to say something rude, but the girl once again lay a hand on his shoulder and he stopped.

"The recognition sign?" she asked.

Kabuto smiled. "Good girl," he said as he carefully made the sign that corresponded to the one the boy had made.

The girl relaxed slightly. "You are Yakushi Kabuto of the Hidden Sound?" She paused. "Or his representative?" she added.

"I am," Kabuto replied, not indicating which question he answered.

It didn't seem to matter to the girl, who nodded. "This is the message we have been sent to give you," she said, then she took a deep breath. She continued, clearly reciting from memory, "Our other business in this country is regrettably taking longer to conclude than we had hoped. It should be over, one way or another, within the next day. The meeting shall, with your permission, proceed as planned tomorrow." She took another deep breath. "Your reply?"

"That is agreeable," Kabuto replied. He smiled at the boy, who was still glowering at him. "Tell your teacher you need more training in detecting ambushes," he commented before disappearing in a burst of smoke. It was an overly flashy exit, but Kabuto liked to impress.

* * *

Much to her surprise, Sakura must have slept, for she found herself awakening suddenly at the sound of footsteps outside her door. She slipped out of bed, a kunai appearing in her hand as she moved into position beside the door. Whoever was outside tested the door handle, discovering that it was locked.

"Who's there?" Sakura called.

"It's me," came Anko's voice. "Let me in."

Sakura reached for the lock, then paused. "Do you have a snake?" she asked.

There was a long pause. "No," Anko said carefully.

Sakura's hand drew nearer to the lock, but she still stopped short. "Do you have more than one snake?" she said, suspicion in her voice.

Anko let out a merry curse. "You're getting too smart for me, girl," she said. There was the sound of a window being opened and shut. "Not anymore. Now let me in."

Sakura's hand retreated from the lock. "Let me get dressed first."

Anko laughed. "Don't trust me with your fragile honor, Sakura-chan?"

"I don't know what I can trust with you with," Sakura answered as she turned away. She paused. "And my honor isn't fragile!" she protested. Anko laughed as she stomped over to her bags and quickly began to dress. "Besides," Sakura continued, "unless you're even weirder than I thought, we're both girls! How would that even work?"

There was a long pause, and Anko laughed again. "Have you got a lot to learn, girl. Maybe I should ask Shiomi-san to lend you some of her books."

Sakura flushed. As she finished dressing, she stomped over to the door and unlocked it. "That won't be necessary," she said stiffly as she opened the door. Anko had a black eye and several minor scrapes and bruises that she hadn't had when Sakura had last seen her, but Anko seemed in fine spirits as she smiled evilly at her student. "What happened to you?" Sakura asked.

Anko grinned. "Kimi and I had a very productive discussion." Anko's face straightened after a moment. "Are you ready?" she asked seriously.

Sakura's hands reflexively checked her equipment. "As ready as I'm going to get," she answered as a flutter settled into her empty stomach. Despite their brief conversation, she knew nothing of Shimano Ren's skills beyond the basic competence evident in the way she held herself. Sakura guessed the other girl was genin-level at most, but it was only a guess. At least Sakura knew Ren knew as little as of her as she knew of Ren. "Is it time?" she asked, forcing her voice to hide her nervousness.

Anko nodded. "My sister and her girl have already headed to the examination hall."

Sakura nodded. "What should I expect?"

"Just a fight," Anko said. "You'll recognize the examination hall when you see it - it's based off of the same model as the place where we held the preliminary fights in the exam. There're differences, but nothing you can't handle."

Sakura forced herself to nod again, pushing dancing images of defeat and humiliation out of her mind. "What are we waiting for, then?"

Anko grinned. "That's the spirit," she said as she lead Sakura down the stairs and out into the rest of the fortress. They threaded their way through a number of halls, entering the parts of the fortress that had not been repaired after the near-destruction of the Mitarashi Clan. "There hasn't been need of the hall since then," Anko answered Sakura's unspoken question. Anko stopped in front of a set of double doors.

Across the hall from the doors stood a stone, life-sized statue of a woman in armor heavier than was now common, much like that Sakura had seen in paintings of the first two Hokages. The woman's hands formed a seal. "Who's that?" she asked.

"Mitarashi herself," Anko answered shortly, "the legendary founder of the clan." Anko laid a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "We're here." She paused momentarily. "Don't worry too much, Sakura-chan. I wouldn't let you do this if I didn't think you could win." Sakura forced herself to nod, and Anko opened the doors.

The special jounin had been right - the examination hall was familiar, a large room encircled by an upper balcony, dominated by a giant statue of a a pair of hands forming a seal. The only differences that Sakura noted in her first look were that instead of a bank of monitors the wall behind the statue was taken up by a mural of a red dragon and, more importantly, that the third of the hall closest to the statue was taken up by a shallow-seeming pool of water. The water steamed slightly, and several rocks had been placed in it, creating a handful of "islands."

Ren stood in the center of the hall next to a tall woman in the simple black clothing that seemed to be the uniform of the Mitarashi Clan's few retainers. Sakura glanced upward, and saw Anko's grandmother flanked by another pair of black-clad women. Kimi stood slightly behind and to her grandmother's left, and Sakura thought she saw the older Mitarashi sister smirk at her. Anko patted her on the shoulder again. "Good luck," the jounin said, before walking over to the stairs and ascending to join the rest of her family.

Sakura forced herself not to shake as she walked to where Ren stood. The retainer on the floor quickly positioned her and Ren twelve paces apart, facing each other along a line drawn through the center of the hall. Sakura glanced at the pool to her left, and she began to plan. Could Ren walk on water?

Ren smiled at her. "No hard feelings, right?" she asked, her voice no less soft now than before, though as always it still was without any sign of weakness.

Sakura nodded. "No hard feelings."

The retainer who was apparently to serve as the judge walked to stand halfway between the two girls, raising one hand. "The terms of the match are to yield or unconsciousness," she said. "If I decide that one of you is no longer able to fight, I will end the match. Do you understand?" Both girls nodded. "Then may the Fire Dragon watch over the battle," she said, dropping her arm. "Begin!" The retainer vanished, no doubt jumping up to the balcony to observe the battle from a safe distance.

Ren was the first to move, forming a familiar seal in one hand. Sakura nodded slightly. If this match was to demonstrate mastery of the Mitarashi Clan's techniques, then that was an obvious place to start. She copied Ren smoothly, chakra gathering between the fingers of her other hand. As one the two girls charged each other, shouting in unison, "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" The streams of flame crossed in mid air, pushing against each other as though they were solid. Sakura barely had time to note that Ren's fires were longer than hers before she began to lose control.

Sakura jumped backward, releasing her seal and avoiding the inevitable downward path of Ren's fiery claws, no longer countered by Sakura's. Before Ren could recover, Sakura raced to one side, pulling a kunai from its sheath at her leg and hurling it in one smooth motion. Ren brought up her claws, swiping it out of the air, but Sakura was already circling behind her.

Shuriken filled Sakura's hands as she charged. Ren's eyes widened as Sakura threw the missiles. Releasing the seal for the Claw of the Fire Dragon, Ren drew her own kunai as she leapt out of the way. "You're fast, Haruno-san," she said, breathing heavily.

"Thank you," Sakura said, reaching for more shuriken. She took a moment to plan out her course. Ren moved before she did, charging Sakura in a straight line. Sakura released her shuriken, but Ren slipped through the missiles easily, parrying the few that got close with her kunai. Sakura barely had time to draw a kunai of her own, blocking Ren's first strike. Sakura countered, plunging her blade into Ren's guts.

Ren exploded into a cloud of black smoke. The lack of the expected resistance unbalanced Sakura. Sakura's eyes watered and she coughed as she stumbled into the smoke. When her eyes cleared, three Ren stood before her. "You must not have been studying the Mitarashi Clan's techniques for long," one said, "if you did not expect the Shadow Smoke Evasion, Haruno-san."

Sakura said nothing, her eyes narrowing as she studied her opponent, her kunai held defensively. Which was the real Ren? Sakura noticed the presence above her a moment too late. The three replications vanished as Ren dropped down behind Sakura, disarming her with one strong strike from her own kunai. Sakura recovered, grabbing Ren's arm and throwing her away before she could get her weapon in position for a killing strike.

Ren rolled as she hit the ground, springing to her feet almost instantly and charging Sakura again. Sakura retreated as she reached for her last kunai. She needed time to think and work out a counterattack. Her free hand grabbed a handful of shuriken and threw them. The oncoming missiles only distracted Ren briefly, but they bought Sakura a few more seconds.

Sakura almost stumbled as her foot hit water, but she reflexively channeled chakra to stabilize it on the surface. She was running out of room and time. Taking a deep breath, Sakura leapt backward, landing lightly on one of the "islands" scattered about the pool. She couldn't afford to waste chakra walking on water now. Ren drew up short as she reached the pools surface, and Sakura smiled. If her foe couldn't walk on water, she would be at an immense disadvantage attacking.

Ren smiled back at her. "I have you now," was all she said, her hands blurring into a set of seals. Before Sakura could react, Ren kicked at the water, splashing some vaguely in Sakura's direction. The water lengthened and thickened in midair, speeding toward Sakura with surprising swiftness. The coils of water wrapped themselves around Sakura's left arm and leg, feeling as solid as rope. Sakura looked up, and saw the other ends of the lines of water firmly in Ren's hand. "Suiton: Water Rope Technique," Ren said anticlimactically.

Sakura considered her options. She had a single kunai left and a handful of shuriken that she could use to keep Ren at bay for a while, but in the long run it was hopeless unless she could free herself. Sakura tested the chakra-charged water with her free hand, but no matter how hard she pressed it moved not at all.

"You can't escape, Haruno-san," Ren said. "Do you yield?"

"Sakura!" Anko yelled down from the balcony. "Hurry and beat her up! I'm getting bored."

"Easy for you to say," Sakura muttered to herself as her agile mind raced to come up with a solution. She remembered what the Hyuuga librarian had told her. "Anything that is made from chakra can be destroyed by chakra." Sakura felt at the rope again, struggling to feel the patterns of chakra that ran through it. No matter how hard she tried, though, she could not find a weak point where a chakra-charged strike could shatter the bonds.

Ren moved her kunai into a throwing position, yanking on the water ropes with her other hand. "Do you yield?" she repeated.

Sakura smiled as a solution came to her. "Not yet," she said quietly as she brought her bound hand up to her chest and raised the other high above her head. She'd only read Kakashi's description of this technique, but it had seemed simple enough, and the conditions were ideal. Each of her hands formed half a seal, and she closed her eyes briefly as she concentrated on channeling her chakra in unfamiliar ways. "Mist Concealment Technique," she breathed.

Ren's eyes widened as the wisps of steam floating above the pool thickened into coils of near-solid seeming mist. "I don't know how you learned that technique, Haruno-san," she said as the mist finished forming, turning half the hall into a near-zero visibility area, "but I don't see what good it does you."

Sakura said nothing as her hands raced through a more familiar set of seals. Within seconds, there was the sound of water splashing and then several pairs of footsteps circling behind Ren. She smiled to herself. Her fake replications were "a little misty," were they? It wouldn't make any difference like this.

"Replications won't do you any good either," Ren said. "They can't attack, and I know just where the real you is." She yanked on the water ropes again.

"Is that so?" came Sakura's voice from behind Ren. The other girl started as she felt a hand on her shoulder, dropping the water ropes in surprise. Ren recovered quickly, her elbow shooting backward. She felt it connect, and heard Sakura flying backward to land heavily. Ren whirled around to face her, her kunai raised to strike. "You should have attacked from surprise," she commented.

Meanwhile, the real Sakura stretched her arm as the water rope dissolved. It was time. She charged Ren as the other girl placed her kunai at the fake Sakura's neck. Ren's eyes widened as she heard the attack from behind a moment too late. She whirled about again, but too slowly to get into a defensive position.

"Sorry about this," Sakura said as one hand formed a seal. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" The claws of fire raked across Ren's chest, the sudden force of the strike sending the girl flying back through the mist. Sakura released the three techniques she was struggling to keep active, breathing heavily from the exertion. She winced as she heard the other girl hit the ground. She'd tried to weaken the technique somewhat so it wouldn't hurt Ren too badly, but Sakura hadn't had much chakra left. She had needed to land a blow that counted before she ran out.

Sakura drew her last kunai as she walked out of the rapidly dissolving mist. Ren lay groaning on the ground, the figure of the judge standing beside her. The front of Ren's blue dress was torn open, and Sakura grimaced as she saw the burnt skin underneath it. It wouldn't be life-threatening, but it had to hurt badly. "Is it over?" she asked the judge as she drew nearer.

Ren was still struggling to rise, but after a long moment she allowed herself to fall back to the ground. She nodded slightly, and the judge raised one arm. "In the eyes of the Fire Dragon, the victor: Haruno -"

"Enough of this farce!" Sakura's eyes widened. She had felt movement, but she hadn't seen a thing as Mitarashi Kimi had jumped down from the balcony, knocking Sakura's kunai out of her hand with one of her long, curved blades and placing the other at Sakura's throat. Sakura wasn't able to stop herself from swallowing nervously.

In an instant, Anko was there too, her kunai pushing Kimi's blade away from Sakura's throat. "What is the meaning of this?" shouted the two sisters' grandmother from the balcony above as the retainers near her moved to protect her. "Mitarashi Kimi, explain yourself immediately!"

"I don't know where you found this girl, Anko," Kimi said, "or how you taught her the first technique so quickly, but I know she is no true student of yours."

Anko's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Oh?" she asked.

"The Leaf would never give you a real student, Anko, since you were taught by -" Kimi cut off as Anko attacked, her kunai sliding past Kimi's blade and at her face. Kimi danced back, raising both blades to a defensive position. Sakura wasn't able to stop her eyes from narrowing as she studied Anko, wondering just what Kimi had been about to say.

"You tread on dangerous ground," Anko said as she drew another kunai with her free hand. "Remember who won our discussion yesterday."

Kimi laughed as she sheathed her blades, retreating out of easy charge range. One hand reached into a pocket. "Do you think that I showed my true power then, Anko-chan?" she asked as she pulled out a forehead protector and quickly tied it around her head. "You aren't the only one who found a patron village." Kimi lowered her hands to the hilts of her weapons, revealing that the four diagonal lines of the Hidden Mist marked the metal part of the forehead protector.

Anko tensed. "I suspected as much." She snorted. "It must have been difficult for one as devout as you were to survive there."

Kimi snarled as she drew her blades. "Our faith did nothing to save our parents or the Clan. It wasn't difficult at all." Her stance shifted slightly. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"Any time," Anko answered.

"Stop this at once!" their grandmother yelled from above, but the two sisters ignored her. The judge began to move to intervene, but sensibly stopped when the two charged each other. The sisters' blades met in midair, moving too rapidly for Sakura's eyes to follow. Again and again they clashed, but no matter how she strained Sakura could see only blurred motion.

Then Anko stumbled back, her kunai falling from her hands and a line of blood drawn across her face. Kimi smiled, not pressing her attack. "Is that the best you can do, little sister?" she asked.

Anko smiled back at her. "I'll end this quickly, big sister, so your student can get the attention she needs." Kimi glanced back, perhaps a bit ashamed, at Ren, who had forced herself to her knees as she watched the fight. "Stay calm," Anko told Sakura. She rolled up one of the sleeves of her jacket, revealing a black tattoo that wound itself around her arm above her wrist. She wiped some blood from her face with her thumb, then drew a line with it down the tattoo, slamming that hand onto the ground. "Summoning Technique!"

There was a massive cloud of white smoke, and when it faded the two Lead ninja were surrounded by a wall of green scales. Sakura's eyes widened as she realized that a giant snake was coiled around them. "Don't panic," Anko reminded Sakura, who forced herself to nod even as she remembered when she had seen a snake just like this one. It had been in the Forest of Death, with Orochimaru. Even the thought of that man made her panic, the same terror that had crippled her when she had been faced with the false Orochimaru in the Rice Field Country.

Anko grabbed the frozen Sakura and jumped to land on the head of the snake. Another set of kunai appeared from within her jacket after she released her student. "Well, Kimi? Are you ready to give up?"

Kimi snarled, but sheathed her blades as she glanced about. Black-clad retainers were pouring into the hall from outside, no doubt summoned somehow by the elder. "It seems I no longer have time," Kimi answered, stepping backward to stand before Ren. She knelt, helping her student onto her shoulders. "Have no fear," Kimi said as she formed seals, "we will finish this one day soon, sister."

Both she and her student vanished in a sudden burst of smoke.

* * *

**Day Sixteen**

This time when Kabuto arrived at the hilltop, his contact was waiting for him. Kabuto moved silently up the side of the hill, observing the woman who waited for him. Unlike the kids she had sent to meet him yesterday, she wore the Mist forehead protector openly, and therefore Kabuto mentally marked down arrogance on the list of her character flaws he was already compiling. There was something slightly familiar about her that Kabuto couldn't quite place, and he frowned. What was he missing?

There were signs that there had been at least two other people - her students, no doubt - with her recently, but they were no longer in evidence. A quick search of the surrounding area turned up their trail and showed they had not doubled back to observe the meeting from a hidden vantage point. Kabuto returned to the hilltop as silently as he had left it, finding the woman still standing in the center of the circle of trees.

"Are you satisfied?" she asked suddenly. "I'd be a fool to plan a betrayal at this stage."

Kabuto left hiding and walked up to his contact. "As expected from a jounin of the Hidden Mist," he commented. "I trust your other business went well?"

"Not so well as I might have hoped. I had hoped to bring you my sister as present for your master."

Kabuto's eyes narrowed as he made the connection he should have made earlier. "You are Mitarashi Kimi, then."

Kimi smiled. "The Sound's spies are well informed," she said. "I thought returning Orochimaru's old apprentice to him would be a worthy beginning to this venture."

"While Orochimaru-sama would certainly take advantage of the opportunity, your sister is not high on his list of concerns, Mitarashi-san." Kabuto smiled slightly. "Orochimaru-sama cares little for what happens to his tools once their purpose is served."

"And you would serve such a man willingly?" Kimi asked. When Kabuto did not reply, she continued. "You are Yakushi Kabuto, of course."

"Of course," Kabuto responded. "Orochimaru-sama would not offend the Mist by sending any mere jounin to seal this deal." Kabuto waited curiously to see how Kimi would respond to the implied insult.

"You seem to have a clever tongue, Yakushi-san, but not even you could convince the leaders of the Mist to meet with Orochimaru or his men. We remember what happened to the Kazekage well." Kimi smiled dangerously. "I was specifically told to warn you that the Mist do not trust Orochimaru's promises. We know that you will betray us, given the chance and a reason."

"Am I to tell Orochimaru-sama that the deal is off, then?" Kabuto asked, his hand poised to reach for a weapon.

"No." Kimi's smile vanished. "The Mist simply want Orochimaru to know that we are not as trusting as the Sand. If you betray us, we will be ready, and the Sound will learn why we were once called the Bloody Mist."

Kabuto resisted the urge to smile. "I shall pass your message on." He paused. "I too was given a message. Orochimaru-sama extends his compliments to the Hidden Mist's spies in the Leaf Village and thanks the Mizukage for their loan."

Kimi frowned, and Kabuto guessed she knew nothing of this. "His message shall be heard. I trust then that Orochimaru is prepared to commit to ally with the Mist?"

"He is," Kabuto answered.

"Very well." A scroll appeared in Kimi's hands. "Carry this back to your master, then, and tell him to be prepared to move when the Leaf's Chuunin Exam ends."

Kabuto took the scroll. "Is there anything else?" He would read the scroll, of course, but not while the Mist jounin was watching.

Kimi shook her head. "Unless you have some other message."

"Only to once again offer our forces' aid in the initial raid," Kabuto said. "Security at the exam will be heightened because of what happened last time."

"We are aware of that," Kimi replied, "but we do not require your aid. The more focus the Leaf put on protecting the exam, the better."

As he had been instructed, Kabuto pressed on this point. There were deeds Orochimaru wished done, and it would be easier to do them with the Mist's cooperation. "You may not require it, but we wish to make a show of good faith. We will accept whatever conditions you feel are necessary, but we must insist."

Kimi's eyes narrowed. "I have been permitted to allow no more than three Sound squads to join the raid if necessary," she admitted, "though I dislike the idea. They are to be in position two weeks before the raid, and we will contact them with orders when we are ready to use them." Her hand flicked to the hilt of one of her weapons. "I am told to remind you that we will watch them carefully for any sign of treachery, and the Mist will act appropriately if such evidence is found."

Kabuto bowed slightly. "As you wish. I shall carry this word to Orochimaru-sama."

Kimi nodded, and in unison the two ninja vanished, though they traveled in opposite directions.

* * *

"What kind of crazy place doesn't have any ramen?" Naruto complained, not for the first time.

"You're in a different country now, Naruto," Jiraiya said. "They don't eat all the same foods we do in the Fire Country. In a big city you'd be able to find ramen, but not a little village like where we stayed last night." Not that Naruto would be visiting any big cities if Jiraiya had his way. They'd stick to the back-country roads - of which Earth Country had a plentiful supply - and keep a low profile until they could get in touch with his old friend.

"Well why don't they eat ramen?" Naruto asked. "Ramen is good!"

Jiraiya sighed. He could launch into an impromptu history lesson explaining the reasons for the occasionally surprisingly different culture of the Earth Country, but he doubted Naruto would appreciate it. Jiraiya wouldn't have at the boy's age, after all, and the Toad Hermit saw more than a little of his younger self in the boy. Though he'd never been quite so enthusiastic about the title of Hokage. That had always been Orochimaru's ambition, not his. That dream had perhaps been the only thing his first apprentice had held in common with Orochimaru.

"Well, why not?" Naruto demanded, and Jiraiya chuckled. His second apprentice, on the other hand, was far more like his first than he would prefer.

"I don't know," Jiraiya said. "That's just the way it is."

Naruto pouted. "That's not a very good answer, Ero-sennin."

"Well, remember this for the next time you're in a library, boy," Jiraiya said. "Then you can look it up and find out what generations of scholars had to say on the subject."

"But that's boring!" Naruto said.

"You want to know, don't you?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto nodded cautiously, sensing he was being led into a trap of some sort. "Then you'll have to decide whether you want to know badly enough to be bored."

Naruto shook his head frantically. "Nothing's worth that."

Jiraiya smiled. "Not even becoming Hokage?"

"What?" Naruto said. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"You've seen all the paperwork Tsunade has to do, haven't you? Do you think you'd enjoy that, or would it be boring?"

The idea had never occurred to Naruto. "I guess being Hokage would be worth being bored," he admitted. "But that doesn't change anything! Studying in the library is still boring, and I don't want to do it!"

"You'll have to do it if you want to become Hokage, boy," Jiraiya said. His eyes glanced ahead and noted an approaching fork in the road. If he remembered correctly they would have to take the left fork here, but he'd need to check his maps.

"What? Why?" Naruto demanded, clearly upset by the notion.

"There's lots of things a Hokage needs to know," Jiraiya answered as he slowed his walk and began to search his pack for the map. "You won't learn them all if you don't study."

"Why can't you just tell me what I need to know?"

Jiraiya found the map. "Because I don't know everything you'd need to know."

"Then I'll find the people who do!" Naruto said.

"Nobody does," Jiraiya said as he unrolled it. Yes, the right fork would take them to a main highway that passed far too close to the Rock Village. The left fork was the correct path. "Some people know some things, but you'd spend the rest of your life tracking everything down. The only way to learn it all is to study."

"That doesn't sound fun," Naruto complained.

"Do you only want to become Hokage because you think it will be fun?" Jiraiya asked as he rolled the map back up. "Is it just a game to you?"

"No!" Naruto said.

Jiraiya smiled. "Good." It would have been hard to imagine Naruto becoming someone worthy of the title Hokage, if Jiraiya had not already seen a very similar boy make the same journey before. Every thirteen year old boy was immature. It was the man they would turn into that mattered, and if Jiraiya had anything to say about it Naruto would become a great man. The last legacy of the Fourth Hokage deserved no less.

As they reached the fork in the road, Naruto suddenly coughed. Jiraiya nodded almost imperceptibly, mere moments before a trio of Rock ninja appeared from their hiding places in the boulders that kept the road from continuing straight ahead. "Halt and identify yourselves!" one ninja declared.

Jiraiya glanced at Naruto. He had taken the time to coach the boy, and hopefully there wouldn't be any repeats of the incident in Hill Country. That was assuming these ninja weren't looking for them specifically, of course. In that case it was only a matter of time before matters escalated. Still, now that they were well past the border Jiraiya judged the danger of that to be minimal.

As planned, Naruto approached the ninja, bowing perhaps a bit too low. "You have the honor of addressing the high priest of Gamabunta-sama, the Lord of All Toads!" Jiraiya had decided to stick to this disguise, as he was well-used to it, and any ninja that had heard that the "Sound spies" in the Hill Country had used it surely would also have their descriptions. Naruto glanced back at Jiraiya, then whispered loudly to the lone woman in the Rock team, "He's a bit of a pervert, so you should watch out." That hadn't been planned, and Jiraiya glared at his apprentice's back.

The Rock ninja who had already spoken snorted. "A toad-priest? Maybe you can help Rena get rid of her warts." The Rock kunoichi hit the speaker on the shoulder. "That hurt!" he complained.

"I figure that if I keep on hitting you when you say something stupid, you'll get smarter," the kunoichi said. "They call it pain therapy or something like that."

The third ninja rolled his eyes. "Just ask the old fool the question."

"Right," the other man replied embarrassedly. "Um... have you two encountered any bandits along this road? We've been sent by the Hidden Rock to eliminate the raiders that have been troubling this area."

Jiraiya shook his. "No, we have not, but perhaps they feared to offend the gods and dared not approach," he answered slowly. If the Rock were going to be searching this area for bandits, that would complicate matters.

"I doubt it," the woman said. "We've seen some of their work, and these aren't nice people. The only gods they fear are ones nobody sane would worship."

"We shall have to be careful, then," Jiraiya answered. "I thank you for the warning."

The first speaker nodded. "We won't detain you any further, then." Jiraiya thanked the Rock ninja again, and soon he and Naruto were on their way again.

"They were nice," Naruto commented once they were out of earshot.

"Of course they were," Jiraiya said. "The Earth Country is at peace, and we gave them no reason to be suspicious of us. If you were on a patrol mission back home, wouldn't you be nice to anyone you met?"

"I guess so," Naruto answered.

"We're lucky they didn't wonder if we were connected to the bandits," Jiraiya said. "I'm not sure I trust your packs to hold up under scrutiny."

Naruto glowered. "I hid everything just like you showed me." Along with most of his ninja tools, both Leaf forehead protectors Naruto carried were well hidden. A careful search would uncover them, of course, but a simple quick look would find nothing out of the ordinary.

"Good," Jiraiya said. Then he glared at Naruto. "Now what have I told you about calling me a pervert?"

Naruto sniffed. "If you don't want to be called a pervert, you should stop doing perverted things!"

Jiraiya sighed. This was going to be a long trip, wasn't it?

* * *

**Day Seventeen**

Naruto was less than happy. It had been days since he'd had any ramen, and from what Jiraiya had told him there wasn't any ramen in his future unless he used some of his rapidly dwindling supply of instant ramen. Yet even this terrible hardship paled before his current complaint. "When are you going to teach me another technique, Ero-sennin?" Naruto demanded, and not for the first time today. "This is supposed to be a training trip, isn't it?"

"We don't have time to stop and train right now," Jiraiya answered. "Once we reach my friend's place, you'll have all the training you can handle." Jiraiya smiled slightly. "Besides, you still haven't learned the first technique I showed you."

"It doesn't work," Naruto grumbled. "I stayed up almost all night trying to move that stupid pinwheel and it didn't even twitch. Why can't you give me another hint? What's the trick?"

"There is no trick." Jiraiya pulled a pinwheel from somewhere, and an instant later it started to spin. "It's all about chakra control."

"I don't get it," Naruto declared. "What is it with chakra control? Everybody says mine's real bad and that I waste too much chakra, but nobody tells me how to have good chakra control. I don't see the point, anyway. It's not like I ever run out of chakra."

Jiraiya put his pinwheel away. "Not everybody has your chakra reserves, boy."

"So?" Naruto pressed. "I do! Why should I care about chakra control?"

"Because control is important," Jiraiya answered. "Without control you can't manipulate your chakra as well, and that limits the techniques you can learn." Jiraiya smiled. "You won't ever become Hokage if you only learn easy techniques."

"You said Rasengan was one of the most difficult techniques!" Naruto protested. "If I can learn that, I can learn almost anything, right?"

"There are different types of difficult techniques," Jiraiya said. "There's techniques that require you to channel a lot of chakra and there's techniques that require very fine control. Rasengan is difficult because it needs a lot of chakra to be manipulated at once, but the actual chakra molding is very simple if you use more than one hand."

"Oh," Naruto said. He'd never thought about it that way before, but it seemed right. "So how do I get better control?"

"Practice," Jiraiya answered. "There aren't any shortcuts."

"That's what you always say," Naruto mumbled. "But how should I practice?"

Jiraiya rubbed his chin, stopping in his tracks and glancing about, perhaps to check for hidden watchers. "Let's see. How about you try to use the Whirlwind Counter? I'll watch and see if I can tell what you're doing wrong."

Naruto nodded eagerly, his hands already forming the technique's single seal. He closed his eyes, concentrating furiously and building up his chakra. The very air around him began to feel charged, until finally he shouted "Whirlwind Counter!" There was a large pulse of chakra that briefly disturbed the still air, but nothing like the controlled powerful winds Jiraiya had summoned when he used the technique.

Jiraiya sighed. "First, you're using way too much chakra, boy. You're trying to move the air with brute force rather than control."

"What difference does it make?" Naruto grumbled.

"We don't normally realize it, but air weighs a lot. Not even you can channel enough chakra to make it do anything useful that way, boy." Jiraiya paused. "Well, maybe you could channel that much, but you still wouldn't accomplish anything. It'd take a chakra control genius to make that much chakra do anything but push out wildly. Tsunade might be able to do it but no one else I can think of could."

Naruto pondered this for a moment. He didn't get the bit about air weighing a lot - air didn't weigh anything, right? The rest made sense, though, and that seemed to be the important part. "I think I understand," he said.

"Do you?" Jiraiya asked, doubt clear in his voice.

"I'm not stupid!" Naruto snapped. "So what should I do?"

"Hmm." Jiraiya rubbed his chin in thought again. "Try and mold the smallest amount of chakra you can. Don't do anything with it, but just try to hold it as long as possible. When you have to let it go, do it again but try to mold less chakra and hold it longer. You can do that while we're walking." And with that, Jiraiya set off again.

Naruto followed his teacher's instructions as he followed. It was harder than he expected. It was a lot like the tree-climbing exercise, but he found it more difficult to just hold the chakra than to use it. At first he could only manage it for a second or two, but by the time the sun had begun to set, Naruto was holding onto the molded chakra for a couple of minutes. However, he was using only a little less chakra than he had on his first try. When he tried to mold a smaller amount, it just slipped away almost instantly.

So intent was he on his practice that he didn't notice the bandits until Jiraiya stopped moving and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Stay calm," Jiraiya said. "Remember that we don't want any trouble. If possible, I want to get out of this without a fight."

Naruto glanced about surreptitiously. The road had entered an area where the terrain was rough and rocky even for the Earth Country. The road itself was straight and level, having been carved out of the rock long ago. This left steep if not terribly high rises on either side of it, and the terrain provided plenty of hiding places. It was a though someone had purposefully set out to design a good site for an ambush.

The bandits themselves were easy enough to locate, a dozen or so people roughly circling where the two ninja stood. They weren't very good at hiding, at least not by ninja standards. Naruto was fairly certain that he wouldn't have any problem defeating them, even by himself. With Jiraiya fighting beside him, he wouldn't even break a sweat. Naruto tensed himself, preparing to attack, before he remembered Jiraiya's words. He forced himself to relax, though one hand still hovered over the hilt of a hidden kunai.

After a long moment, a bandit emerged from hiding. He was a big man, and he waved a giant crowbar of a sword at the pair. "Let's make this simple!" he declared. "You drop everything you're carrying, and I might let you live. You don't, and my friends shoot you." The man grinned toothily - or he would have if he wasn't missing most of his teeth. "Just so you don't get any bright ideas, I've got two crossbows pointed at each of you, so even if one misses the other will hit."

"I'm afraid what's in our packs would do you little good, my friend," Jiraiya said. "I am a priest of the toad god Gamabunta and as all the world knows my order takes a strict vow of poverty. Let my apprentice and I go on our way, good sir, and I shall bless you and all your company with the favor of my god."

The man's eyes narrowed. "I've never heard of any toad god Gamababa," he said, "and I don't care about his blessings. Give us all your stuff before I run out of patience."

Jiraiya raised a hand theatrically. "If you do not desire my god's blessings, perhaps you fear his curse? The Lord of All Toads prepares a terrible vengeance for all who slay his servants."

The bandit laughed. "Last chance, old fool."

"So be it," Jiraiya intoned, his other hand creeping up to his mouth. He stuck his thumb out and bit down until blood began to flow. Beside him, Naruto tensed again, already drawing up his chakra. The bandit snarled and raised his sword. Mere moments before the scene would have erupted into violence, all three froze.

There was a loud buzzing sound. Naruto looked around for the source, but couldn't find it. Then there were piercing screams from all around, the hidden bandits crying out in pain and panic. The bandit who stood on the road before the two Leaf ninja began to shake, his sword falling from his nerveless hands. "What -" he began, only to stop as a large cloud of bees rose from behind a boulder, swarming about him. The bandit screamed once as the bees attacked, stinging him again and again. Then the man slumped over, and the insects vanished.

Naruto looked about again, and saw a man standing on top of a nearby boulder. He was large, with dark hair and a beard, and most importantly he wore a Hidden Rock forehead protector. The man jumped down to stand on the road behind the pair, who quickly turned to face him. "It seems I will be able to finish two missions today," he commented. "Suzumebachi will be pleased with me."

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed. "A bug user," he muttered half to himself.

"You are correct," the man said. His smile turned dangerous as he studied Jiraiya. "I am Kamizuru Kurobachi, chuunin of the Hidden Rock.

A drop of blood fell from Jiraiya's thumb, still held in front of his mouth, and fell to the ground. "I thought that clan was disbanded," he said. Kurobachi snarled and extended an arm, and countless bees began to to fly out of his cloak. "Naruto!" Jiraiya snapped as the insects approached.

Naruto quickly guessed what his teacher wanted, and formed a single seal as he took a deep breath. "Whirlwind Shield!" As the genin exhaled, a windstorm sprung into being in front of the pair, flinging the small bugs about. When the winds died down, the bees were gone.

Kurobachi's face had smoothed. "I should have guessed that it wouldn't be that easy to defeat one of the legendary Sannin," he commented. Naruto's eyes widened and he glanced at Jiraiya, who frowned. Kurobachi laughed. "Yes, I know who you are, Jiraiya the Toad Hermit. The Kamizuru Clan remembers you well. Imagine our surprise when we were given your description as a Sound spy." The Rock ninja smiled. "I was not aware that you had reconciled with Orochimaru." Seeing the expressions on his two foes' faces, Kurobachi laughed again. "Or have you not? Leaf or Sound, it doesn't matter. I'll kill you both, and bring back the heads of the spies who regrettably died resisting arrest."

"We'll see about that," Naruto snarled. "Shadow Replication Technique!" The horde of orange-clad ninja charged the Rock chuunin.

"Naruto, you idiot!" snapped Jiraiya. "It's a -"

"Clone," finished Kurobachi's voice as one Naruto landed a furious punch on the first Kurobachi, who melted into a pile of sticky honey. The Naruto stumbled forward and fell onto the honey, and struggled briefly to free itself before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Kurobachi stepped out from behind a boulder, stretching out an arm again. Before he could release any bees, Naruto and his clones charged him in unison. Even as they reached the Rock ninja, he vanished, turning into another collapsing pillar of honey.

"You aren't very smart, are you?" Kurobachi said as he appeared on top of another boulder, both arms spread wide. Bees poured out of his cloak, rapidly flying toward the orange-clad ninjas. One Naruto looked up, his hands quickly forming a seal.

"Too late," Kurobachi said with a grin as he finished forming seals of his own. "Thousand Bee Technique!" As one the bees stopped in midair and released their stingers, which flew through the air like countless thrown needles. There was a sea of explosions of white smoke. When the last smoke vanished, there was nothing standing on the road where the Narutos had been.

Kurobachi's eyes widened. "They were all replications?"

"I have you now!" shouted a Naruto as several clones jumped up at Kurobachi from all around the boulder he stood on. The Rock ninja tried to fall into a defensive stance, but too quickly the clones struck at his legs, kicking him up into the air as they shouted in unison "Uzumaki Naruto..."

Kurobachi struggled to gain control of his flight path as the clones below him vanished in puffs of smoke. Then his eyes widened again as he felt a presence above him. "Combo!" finished the last Naruto as he delivered a fierce kick that sent Kurobachi plunging back to the ground. The Rock ninja landed heavily and did not rise. Naruto grinned as he landed on top of the boulder his opponent had recently occupied. "Take that," he said.

"Naruto!" shouted Jiraiya as he charged his student.

The Leaf genin's eyes widened. "What's wrong?" he asked as Jiraiya leapt at him. The Sannin tackled his student, and mere moments later a storm of bee stingers passed through where Naruto had stood. Several struck Jiraiya, who breathed heavily as he and Naruto landed on the ground not far from Kurobachi.

More accurately, they landed near where Kurobachi had been, for the Rock ninja was nowhere to be found. "What happened?" Naruto asked as Jiraiya rolled off from on top of him.

"He was... forming seals," Jiraiya answered slowly. "Before he hit the ground." He struggled to sit up, shaking his head as though to clear it. "Damn it," he grunted. "Some of those stingers were poisoned."

Naruto's eyes widened. "What?"

Jiraiya groaned painfully as he stood, his knees shaking. "Damn it," he repeated. "I can't believe I walked into that. Listen, boy. We have to get out of here and find a hiding place. He'll be back with friends."

Naruto nodded.

Jiraiya tried to take a step forward and staggered. "It looks like... you're going to have to help me," he said weakly. Naruto jumped forward to support his teacher. Jiraiya groaned and let out another curse as he half-collapsed against Naruto. "There's a cave out that way," he said with a vague gesture. "I don't think the Rock know about it."

Naruto nodded, and the two Leaf ninja left the road as the twilight rapidly darkened into true night.

* * *

Anko had not wasted any time after the end of Sakura's duel. The Leaf special jounin had spent most of the morning closeted with her grandmother after telling her student to start packing. They had eaten a quick lunch at Anko's favorite dango shop, and then set out. Since then, Sakura had hardly had time to think, as Anko set a pace far harsher than she had on the almost leisurely journey south. Sakura wondered in the few brief moments she had a chance to catch her breath how best to once again raise the subject of who Anko's teacher had been. Anko had only said "nobody important" when Sakura had asked when she had first learned the jounin's story. Kimi's accusation - and more tellingly, Anko's reaction - seemed to make it clear that was a lie. Still, Sakura was forced to admit to herself, was it really any of her business?

Late this afternoon they had finally reached the Hidden Village of the Leaf, and Anko had lead Sakura straight to the Hokage's office. Fortunately, Tsunade was still there, and Anko had quickly told her the entire story of the mission. The Hokage folded her hands in front of her face. "The Mist, huh?" she asked rhetorically. "That's worrisome."

Anko nodded. "That's why I came back as soon as possible."

"I'll have to write a complaint for the Mizukage." Tsunade sighed. "More paperwork."

Sakura, standing against the wall next to the door seemingly forgotten by the two older ninja, frowned. Surely the paperwork should be the least of the Hokage's concerns, if Mist ninja were operating in the Fire Country. It could start a war. It almost had, Sakura realized, thinking of what might have happened if she had lost the match and Kimi - and through her the Mist - had taken control of the Mitarashi Clan's port.

"My grandmother has agreed to having a squad of Leaf ninja garrisoned in the fortress to protect against further incursions," Anko said after a moment, fishing a scroll out of her pack and laying it on Tsunade's desk.

Tsunade nodded. "I don't know where I'll find the ninja, but it has to be done." She rubbed her forehead. "I'm probably going to need to send word to the rest of the alliance or at least the Sand. At least I might be able to shut the Waterfall up with this news."

"The Waterfall?" Anko asked, sounding slightly confused.

"Now that fighting has started between the Sound and the Valley, the Waterfall are convinced that this would be a perfect time to invade the Hill Country." Tsunade stopped suddenly with another sigh. "Excuse me, retake the occupied Waterfall Country. At least now I can tell them I don't want to risk war with the Mist and the Rock at once."

Anko smiled. "You're the one who was always telling me that every cloud has a silver lining, Tsunade-sama," she said.

Tsunade suddenly grinned, a malicious glint in her eyes. "Keep that in mind, Anko-chan. The village council is wrapping up the assignments for the Chuunin Exam, and they're bumping you up to the third exam."

Anko's hands slammed down on Tsunade's desk. "What?" she asked, nearly shouting. "But I always do the second exam! The other two are too boring."

Tsunade's grin widened. "It was something about too many people passing the last time. They've decided to give it to Morino-san."

"Ibiki!" Anko's voice was strangled. "He's the one who passed almost eighty ninja in the first exam!" Anko swore viciously. "I'll kill him."

Sakura's eyes were wide. How could the two of them discuss something so trivial like this when they'd just been talking about events that could spark a new Great War?

"How many times have I told you that there'll be no murders inside the Leaf, Anko-chan?" Tsunade asked.

"One hundred and thirty-six, counting today," Anko answered promptly. "Couldn't you kick him out, Tsunade-sama? Pretty please?"

Tsunade sighed. "No, Anko-chan," she said. "Besides, Morino's already coming up with some good ideas. He wants to open up the old -"

Sakura coughed. "Umm... should I be listening to this? I will be taking the exam." She would make her mother see reason on that.

Tsunade started. "I'd forgotten you were there. If you're going to be my apprentice, you'll have to learn to speak up more, Haruno-kun." Tsunade frowned, glancing down at the notes she had taken. "Officially I'll be waiting on Anko-chan's formal report, but from what she's told me so far you did very well on the mission. I'll be upgrading the mission rating - it'll still be a C-rank but it'll pay as a combat mission instead of a diplomatic one. I assume Anko-chan will turn in a commendation for your record."

"Thank you," Sakura said.

Tsunade scribbled something on her notes. "Have you found a team for the exams yet?" she asked.

"I'm... working on that, Hokage-sama," Sakura answered.

"You'd better hurry. There's only a few more days until the deadline for jounin to sponsor a team." Tsunade looked up, studying Sakura carefully. "Is there anything you need to talk to me about?"

"No, Hokage-sama," Sakura said.

Tsunade almost frowned. "You're dismissed, then. Anko-chan, you stay a bit longer. I need to talk to you."

Sakura bowed slightly, then slipped out the door and through the almost empty halls of the administration building. She nodded to the vaguely familiar chuunin guard she passed on the way out of the building, but didn't see anyone else she recognized on her way home. It was getting late, so she wasn't surprised when she tested the door and found it locked. Sakura fished through her pockets for her house key, at first accidentally pulling out Naruto's apartment key. She'd been planning to quickly check on the apartment before leaving on the mission but the fight with her mother that morning had driven it from her mind.

When she finally found her key, Sakura unlocked the door and slipped inside, dropping her heavy packs with a sigh. "I'm home," she called and heard the sound of movement from upstairs in response. As she waited for her mother, Sakura headed for the kitchen cabinets. While she hadn't been starved, for the past few days most of her meals had been small, cold, and eaten on the move.

Her mother slowly came downstairs, her green eyes blinking wearily - she must have gone to sleep early. "What do you think you're doing, Sakura?" she asked as she entered the kitchen.

"I'm just making myself something to -"

Her mother cut Sakura off angrily. "I told you not to walk out that door if you wanted to walk back through it, didn't I?"

Sakura's eyes widened. Her mother surely hadn't been serious about that. "Mother," she began, only to stop as her mother spoke again.

"Don't call me that," she growled at her daughter. "If I were your mother you would listen to me, not to the Hokage."

"Of course you're my mother," Sakura protested. "But I'm a ninja now, and I have to-"

Once again, her mother gave her no opportunity to finish her sentence. "Get out of my house then, ninja," she said.

Sakura couldn't believe her ears. "You must be joking! We're a family! You can't -"

Her mother smiled grimly. "I can. You're a ninja now, so you don't need my approval for anything, right? Being considered an adult works both ways." Her eyes narrowed. "It means taking responsibility for your choices."

Sakura couldn't come up with anything to say. How could this be happening? How could her mother do this to her? Why? It just didn't make any sense. "Mother," she said again, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't form any more words.

"You have one more choice, Sakura." Her mother's eyes were hard and uncompromising. "Either you give up being a ninja or you leave here forever."

"Give," Sakura said, her voice stumbling. She tried again. "Give up being a ninja?" How could her mother ask that of her? She'd trained for years at the academy to be a ninja. She'd gone through all the tests, been through so much. There was so much she still had to do. She couldn't even begin to imagine herself not being a ninja. It was central to everything she was, everything all her friends were.

"You heard me," her mother said. For a moment, her eyes softened. "Sakura, I'm trying to save you. I don't want you to -"

Something inside Sakura gave way, and a torrent of rage began to flow through her. She could feel herself trembling with anger, her fists clenching tightly by her sides. "Save me?" she asked far too loudly. "You want to save me? I don't need or want to be saved!" Her mother shrank back slightly, but Sakura was unable to stop the words that were pouring out of her. "I've seen my friends almost get killed and nothing would stop them from returning to duty. I can't do any less! Sasuke-kun is... Sasuke-kun is out there somewhere, and I've promised that I'm going to bring him home!

"You want me to betray all that? Fine!" Sakura stomped back over to the door, picking up her packs. "Then I don't want to live here anymore, anyway." The door was still slightly ajar, and Sakura kicked it open. "Goodbye, Amaya-san." She slammed the door behind herself with another kick, and this time she didn't pause to hear if her mother cried.

Sakura was most of the way down her street before she calmed enough to consider what to do next. She could find an inn, of course, but that was expensive. For a moment, she considered going to Ino's house, but as her rage left her she didn't feel anywhere close to ready to talk her rival. Particularly since Ino had been less than pleased with her the last time they'd met. For all Sakura knew, she might be on a mission now, too.

Realizing that she was attracting attention by standing still in the middle of the street, Sakura began to walk slowly as she considered her options. After several steps, she felt for Naruto's key in her jacket pocket and was relieved to find it. The more she considered it, the more Naruto's apartment seemed ideal, at least for now. She would have it to herself, and she knew Naruto wouldn't mind. It would do, for tonight at least.

Her decision made, Sakura set off into the rapidly darkening night.

* * *

"So, what do you think, Anko-chan?" Tsunade asked as she refolded her hands in front of her face. "About my prospective apprentice, that is."

Anko scratched the back of her head. "Does Shizune-sempai know she's getting replaced?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Anko-chan, be serious."

"Right," Anko said. For a long moment, she didn't say anything. "You say she hadn't been doing any serious training until about a week before the mission?"

"Not to my knowledge," Tsunade answered.

Anko shook her head. "She's definitely a fast learner," she said. The special jounin paused again, pondering her next words. "Her taijutsu is about average for a late first-year genin, which is a lot better than it was six months ago. I'd say it was too weak for the exams, but she was wearing those old-fashioned weights the whole time. Take them off, and she might be fine. Her raw ninjutsu and genjutsu skills are reasonable, with a bit more native talent in genjutsu."

"That's a pretty glowing recommendation from you," Tsunade said.

"Well, I'm not done yet," Anko said. "She doesn't have a chuunin's breadth of techniques yet, but that can fixed easily enough. Her chakra reserves stink, though. They're barely acceptable for a first-year genin, but only barely. For an exam veteran..." Anko trailed off, shaking her head.

Tsunade looked Anko up and down. "I sense a but coming up."

"Her chakra control is downright scary," Anko said. "She can use one-handed seals easily, and she managed to pull off a ninjutsu she'd only read about perfectly on the first try. I almost laughed when Hatake mentioned he was teaching her the Perfect Replication Technique, but with that much control she's able to pull it off with a little chakra to spare." Anko paused. "In control, she's easily at least mid-chuunin-level already."

Tsunade smiled. "That's why I recommended her for this mission. Still disappointed you didn't get your first choice?"

"I would have been a lot less nervous during the fight with the Hyuuga girl," Anko answered, "but Sakura-chan won, so I can't really complain. Anything else?"

"What about her personality?" Tsunade asked. "You're the least biased person who's spent time with her on a mission."

Anko rolled her eyes. "She reminds me of Kurenai-chan," she said.

"Yuuhi-san?"

"Right. Like her, Sakura's very restrained. I couldn't get her to take a swing at me outside of practice." Anko grinned. "As you know, I'm pretty good at that."

Tsunade shook her head. "You're lucky Shizune forgave you, Anko-chan."

Anko's grin just widened. "They aren't exactly the same, though. I don't think Kurenai-chan gets angry at all, but Sakura certainly does. She just holds it in." Anko grin widened even further, something Tsunade might not have thought possible. "I'd like a front row seat for the fireworks if she ever lets all that anger out at once."

"Is she stable?" Tsunade asked, worry suddenly in her voice.

Anko blinked. "Oh, yes, of course. Nothing that bad." Anko suddenly smiled again. "Though I don't know if you want to trust my definition of stability."

Tsunade sighed. "I'm afraid I have to for now. So, final verdict?"

"She's a good candidate for the exams, which she wasn't last time," Anko said. "I'd give her about even odds of making it to the third examination, if the exams were held today."

Tsunade nodded. "Good," she said. She paused a moment, then asked, "Did she mention anything about any personal problems?"

"What?" Anko asked. "No. Why?"

"Hatake-san mentioned to me that he thought she was having family problems," Tsunade answered.

Anko shrugged. "I don't think she said anything about her family or anything personal for that matter. I don't even think she mentioned the Uchiha kid to me."

"All right," Tsunade said. "You can go now, Anko-chan. I need to finish up this paperwork so I can go get something to drink."

* * *

**Day Eighteen**

Naruto was starting to get worried. Jiraiya had seemed to get stronger as they'd gotten nearer to the cave last night, and by the time they reached it he had been walking on his own. Once they'd settled themselves into the cave, the Toad Hermit had promptly fallen asleep. Naruto had stayed awake and kept watch as best he could, but much to his relief there had been no sign of pursuit or searchers. His teacher's breathing had remained strong and steady throughout the night, and had Naruto not known better he would never have guessed that he had been poisoned.

Yet it was now well past dawn, and Jiraiya had not awakened. He still breathed normally and his heart still beat strongly, but no matter how Naruto tried he could not wake the old ninja. Naruto checked the places where Jiraiya had been stung last night, but the wounds looked normal to him. However, though he had eventually passed the mandatory first aid classes in the academy, he knew it would be charitable to describe his medical knowledge as minimal. It was obvious to him that something was wrong, but he could not figure out what it was or how to fix it.

Considering his options, Naruto dug through Jiraiya's packs for the maps he knew were there. Once he found them, he began to unroll them until he found the map of the Earth Country, wishing he had paid more attention when Jiraiya had been describing their route. After several minutes of futile searching, he gave up trying to find where they were on the map.

Still, Naruto knew that they couldn't stay here. His many years of pranks in the Leaf Village had taught him that a stationary hiding place was a bad idea when your pursuers knew the area well. Surely the Rock ninja knew their own country. Even if they weren't aware of this cave in particular, they would likely know that this area was worth searching. And even if the cave was secure, he needed to take Jiraiya somewhere where he could be looked at by a doctor.

Naruto walked to the mouth of the cave, searching for any inspiration he could find. There was the road they had left, just barely visible in the distance. The sun was over there, and it was morning so that way was east. That meant that they'd been heading northwest. Hadn't the road forked a ways back, too? There hadn't been any villages on the road since then that he could remember. Naruto took another look around, and frowned. Was that smoke further up the road? Possibly that meant there was a town there.

Naruto turned back to the maps. After several more minutes of furious searching he still hadn't located where they were. He really wasn't very good at this, he admitted to himself. He'd just have to head cross-country toward the smoke and hope that it was a town. If he was lucky, there wouldn't be any Rock ninja there and it would have a doctor.

As he slowly repacked the maps, Naruto realized how risky this was, but he knew he had no other choice. Observing the packs, Naruto sighed and began to unpack them. There was no way he could carry all the packs and Jiraiya as well. He quickly repacked one pack with what he thought were the necessities. Then he hid the remaining packs deep in the cave. With luck, he and Jiraiya could return for the rest. Carefully picking up his teacher, Naruto set off.

When the journey was over, Naruto would remember only a tiny fraction of it. The rough, rocky terrain blended together in his mind, and luckily he didn't see another soul on the route. Far more slowly than he had hoped, the smoke on the horizon grew nearer and more defined. The sun rose higher and higher in the sky, but it did nothing to dispel the early autumn chill. At one point Naruto remembered drawing far too close to the road and having to turn away from the smoke to maintain a safe distance.

It was well past noon when Naruto was able to tell that the source of the smoke was, as he had hoped, the chimneys of a small town. The town sat near the foot of a small mountain, and as he drew nearer Naruto saw that it was unwalled. Two trails left the town, one heading toward the main road and another climbing up the side of the mountain. As he cautiously approached, Naruto circled around toward the trail leading to the road. That would be the least suspicious way to enter, he knew.

Much to his relief, he saw no sign of Rock ninja, but he also knew that he wasn't certain what to look for. There was nobody at the entrance to the town, so Naruto simply headed down the biggest road he could find. The first person he saw was a young boy who was entertaining himself by bouncing a ball against the wall of a building - probably his house.

"Hey, kid," Naruto said as he shifted Jiraiya's weight onto a slightly more comfortable location. "Do you know where I can find a doctor?"

The boy caught the ball, frowning as he turned to look at Naruto. "My name's Kaneda, not kid," he said.

"Sorry," Naruto replied, "but my grandfather's hurt. Is there a doctor in this town?"

The boy seemed to think a moment, then shouted "Mom!"

In instants, a young woman appeared in the doorway to the house. "What is it, Kaneda?" She quickly saw Naruto, her eyes widening as she saw him carrying a man much larger than himself. "What do you want?" she asked. Naruto repeated his question, and the woman nodded. "Head straight down this street and take the second right," she answered quickly. "You can't miss it."

"Thank you," Naruto said.

"I hope your grandfather is all right," the woman said as Naruto turned to leave. Naruto thanked her again, then followed her directions. He quickly found the small doctor's office, but had to struggle slightly to open the door without dropping Jiraiya. This done, he slipped inside.

Inside, a middle-aged man - almost certainly the doctor - was removing a cast from the arm of a younger man. Naruto carefully set Jiraiya down on one of the several empty cots scattered about the dark, cluttered room. Naruto eyed the room, so different from the large, clean hospital in the Leaf Village suspiciously. Was this really a doctor's office?

The doctor finished removing the cast, and his patient flexed his arm. "Thanks," the young man said, smiling. "Kaneda will be glad I can play catch with him again."

The doctor just nodded, turning to Naruto. "Now, what are you here for, then?" he asked as the younger man slipped out.

Naruto had considered his answer to this question carefully on the way. "My grandfather was stung by a bee last night," he said after a moment to make sure he could keep his story straight. "He was weak for a little while but got better before we went to bed. Now he won't wake up, so I brought him here."

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "You carried him here? You must be pretty strong," he answered, heading over to examine Jiraiya. "Show me where you grandfather was stung." Naruto complied, and the doctor frowned. "You should have said he was stung more than once," he told Naruto.

"Can you help him?" Naruto asked.

"Probably," the doctor answered. "Can you pay, boy?"

Naruto nodded. Money had been one of the things he'd been sure to take with him rather than leaving it in the cave. "Yes," he said.

The doctor nodded back, stroking his chin as he studied Jiraiya. "It sounds like your grandfather had some sort of allergic reaction," he said. He gestured over to one of the other cots. "Stay out of the way, boy, and I'll see what I can do."

* * *

When Sakura awoke, it took her several moments to realize where she was. The bare walls of Naruto's spare room stared back at her slowly blinking, weary eyes, and the reality of what had happened last night began to sink in. Her mother had kicked her out! How could that have possibly happened to her? Back in the academy, she'd listened bemusedly when other students had complained about their parents. She'd always gotten along fine with her mother, and she liked to imagine she would have gotten along well with her father also. Ever since the Chuunin Exam, that had changed, though. Still, Sakura had never imagined that it could come to this.

Sakura threw aside the bed covers and slowly sat up. She stood and began to undress - she had not felt comfortable undressing for bed in a strange place last night. As she tossed her dirty clothes into a pile she stumbled over toward where she had dropped her packs. If she was counting right, she ought to still have one set of clean clothes. She breathed a sigh of relief as she confirmed that this was indeed the case.

A few minutes later, she was dressed - weights and all - and had time to consider what to do next. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her of one pressing concern. She fished through her packs again, finding the last of the rations she had packed for the trail. As she quickly ate and began to feel slightly more human, she began to consider what needed to be done.

She wasn't going to let this stop her from taking the exam, she knew. That was the whole point. She couldn't just sit on her borrowed bed and cry. She needed to train; she needed to make sure she had a team. First, she'd need to find Ino and talk to her. She'd need to see if she could find Kakashi to help her train. For both of those, she'd need to visit the Hokage's office to make sure they weren't on a mission or something.

That would let her take care of something else, also. Ninja were required to keep their current residences on file, so that they could be reached easily. Her file, of course, listed her mother's house. That had changed, and she would need to make that known. Sakura grimaced. She'd prefer not to have to say anything, but that wasn't an option.

With a sigh, Sakura left Naruto's apartment and headed on her way. The streets were mostly empty and she made good time, but she had to go out of her away to avoid her house. This altered route took her near the Yamanaka flower shop and Sakura hesitated a moment before stopping there. If Ino wasn't on a mission, it ought to be her shift, Sakura thought, and she could get this out of the way quickly.

Ino was indeed in the shop, and she glanced up as Sakura entered. "Hello, Forehead," she said cheerfully. "Back from your mission?"

Sakura nodded. "I'm sure you know why I'm here, Ino-pig. I don't have much longer to wait on your decision."

Ino grimaced. "It's not like we have much of a choice. There are other teams missing members, but most of them are a lot older than us. They probably wouldn't give you or us the time of day. Even if we were part of the so-called Rookie Nine, we're the part that didn't make it to the finals."

"So your answer is yes?" Sakura asked, relieved. Much the same thing had occurred to her.

"Provisionally," Ino said. "It'll be our lives on the line in the second exam. Chouji and I want to be sure we can count on you."

"What do you mean?"

"The three of us will meet tomorrow before lunch at the training grounds, and we'll see if this will work out." Ino smiled. "Call it a test."

"All right," Sakura said. "I'll be there." She turned to leave.

"Sakura!" Ino called, and the other girl stopped. "Are you okay?"

Sakura glanced back. "What?"

"You aren't very... cheerful this morning," Ino said. "Did something happen on the mission?"

"Nothing happened," Sakura said. "I'm fine." She paused. "Sorry, Ino, but I don't want to talk about it." Before Ino could say anything more, she had left and headed on her way to the administration building.

When she reached the appropriate office, it was being manned by Shizune. Sakura resisted the urge to grimace. This guaranteed that Tsunade would hear personally about this. Shizune glanced up from the piles of paperwork she was sorting, apparently determining what required the Hokage's attention. "Good morning, Sakura-chan," she said. "If you need to see Tsunade-sama, I can send you right in. Her first appointment was over quickly."

Sakura shook her head. "I just need a change of address form, Shizune-san."

Shizune blinked. "A change of address form?" she asked, surprised.

"Yes," was all Sakura said, ignoring the none-too-subtle prompting to explain.

After a long moment, Shizune pulled out the appropriate form and a pen. "Here you go," she said.

"Thank you." Sakura quickly began to fill out the form. She'd double-checked the address of Naruto's apartment before leaving. It took her only a few minutes to write down the appropriate details and sign her name at the bottom of the form. She handed it back to Shizune.

Tsunade's attendant's eyes widened as she took the form. "Isn't that Naruto-kun's place?"

Sakura reluctantly nodded. "Yes. There won't be a problem with that, will there? I'm sure Naruto won't mind me borrowing the place for now."

"No," Shizune said slowly. "But... why?"

"It's," Sakura began, only to trail off. After a long moment, she started again. "It's a personal issue," she admitted. Seeing Shizune's mouth beginning to open and easily guessing what her next question was, Sakura continued, "I can handle it myself, Shizune-san. You needn't trouble yourself."

Now it was Shizune's turn to reluctantly nod. "If you say so," she said dubiously.

Sakura nodded back, much more firmly. "Do you know if Kakashi-sensei is in the village?"

"He's on a mission," Shizune answered. "He won't be back for a few weeks, at least."

"I see," Sakura said as she turned to leave. "Thank you." Shizune didn't stop her.

After she had left, Tsunade slipped into the room from the other doorway, which lead to the hallway her own office was located on. "Was that who I thought it was?" she asked.

Shizune rose, handing Tsunade the form. "Yes, Tsunade-sama," she answered.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow as she read the form. "Sakura-chan is moving into Naruto-kun's place?"

Shizune nodded. "She said it was because of a personal issue."

"I heard," Tsunade said. She dropped the form back on Shizune's desk. "It seems Hatake was right. I'm already sick of beating around the bush on this, Shizune." Tsunade smiled. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to cheat a little."

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked.

"The rules say that I'm not supposed to interfere with internal family matters unless requested." Tsunade snorted. The worst problems were usually the ones where no one wanted to ask for the Hokage's intervention.

"That's correct," Shizune said after a moment.

Tsunade gazed at the ceiling. "However, it occurs to me that I don't know anything about the Haruno. That's really not good for the Hokage, I think, particularly since I plan to make Sakura-chan my new apprentice once she's ready. Don't you agree, Shizune?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Shizune answered, smiling.

"Do me a favor, Shizune," Tsunade said. "Go through the archives and dig up anything interesting you can find on the Haruno." She grinned. "And if you happen to find anything that might shed some light on the problem, let me know."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Shizune replied. "Shall I start now?"

"Just a moment," Tsunade said. "I believe I need you to summon the village council first. That's what I was coming here for to begin with."

"What about?" Shizune asked, surprised.

"I just received an interesting message from the Mizukage," Tsunade answered. Her eyes were grim. "He seems to have preempted my request for an apology for the incident down south."

Shizune's eyes widened. "War?"

"No, thank the gods," Tsunade said. "He's already sent an apology for the over-enthusiasm of his jounin in pressing her 'legitimate claim to the Mitarashi Clan.'"

"And?" Shizune asked, sensing that there was more to come.

"As a sign of good faith," Tsunade said slowly, "the Mizukage would like to send Mitarashi Kimi's genin team to participate in our upcoming Chuunin Exam."

* * *

**Day Nineteen**

Naruto groaned as he slowly awoke. It took him several moments to recognize the cluttered doctor's office. The doctor had thankfully allowed Naruto to stay here overnight, rather than forcing him to leave his "grandfather." As soon as he was fully awake, Naruto jumped off the cot he had slept on and raced over to check on Jiraiya. The old ninja was still breathing easily, but there was no sign that he was near awakening.

"You don't need to do my job for me," the doctor said as he descended a set of stairs in the back of the office. Evidently the doctor lived above his office, but he had told Naruto in no uncertain terms not to venture either upstairs or downstairs to the basement without permission. He pushed Naruto out of the way unceremoniously, bending over to examine Jiraiya.

After several moments, the doctor spoke. "I don't believe I've ever seen a reaction to bee stings quite like this, boy."

Naruto gulped. "Does that mean you can't help him?"

The doctor turned to him. "I might be able to, if you tell me the truth."

"The truth?" Naruto asked.

"Are you two having some sort of ninja problem, boy?" The doctor frowned. "There are a number of poisons that might have caused this, but unless you tell me more I won't be able to help."

Naruto began to weigh his options carefully. The doctor had seemed nice enough, but he was from Earth Country. There was no telling what he might do if he found out that they were Leaf ninja. He might turn them in. After far too long, Naruto answered. "There were ninja fighting," he answered slowly. "Grandfather and I hid, but he got stung by some bees that were after one of the ninja."

The doctor sighed. "Summoned bees, huh? You should have told me that at the start, boy. That changes everything." He turned back to Jiraiya, stroking his chin in thought. "I still should be able to help, though it might be a couple days still before he's ready to move." He glared at Naruto. "I'll be charging extra since you wouldn't tell me all the details."

Naruto just nodded nervously. "All right."

The doctor's attention returned to Jiraiya. "Go down to the basement, boy. In the left corner there'll be a big green box that says antidotes. Bring that up for me."

Naruto nodded and slipped down the rickety stairs that led to the basement. Large crates littered the dark room, but after his eyes adjusted Naruto was able to see well enough to maneuver his way through it. He quickly found the antidotes, and easily lifted the metal box and carried it back upstairs. He carefully placed it on the table next to Jiraiya's cot.

Without a word the doctor opened the box and fished out a small bottle half-full with clear liquid. He carefully checked the label, then poured a tiny amount into a syringe. After double-checking both the label and the amount, he rolled up Jiraiya's sleeve and injected him. "You're lucky I used to practice in the Rock Village, boy," he commented.

Naruto resisted the urge to back away nervously. "Are you a ninja?" he asked.

The doctor laughed suddenly. "No, of course not. There aren't enough medical ninja to run an entire hospital. They save themselves for the toughest cases and let us normal people handle the rest." He smiled. "Not everyone who lives in a Hidden Village is a ninja."

Naruto was smart enough not to say that he knew that. "Why did you leave?" he asked after a moment.

The doctor seemed to study Naruto carefully. "I got sick of the blood." He paused, and anything else he was about to say was lost as Jiraiya suddenly coughed.

The old ninja's eyes flickered open. "What..." he began to say weakly, only to trail off into another fit of coughing. He glanced about. "Naruto?"

Naruto raced over to his teacher's side. "I'm here," he said. "We're safe."

Jiraiya began to struggle to rise. "Doubt... that."

The doctor pushed him down with one hand. "Easy there, old fellow. Those bees that stung you were a special type. It'll be a few days before you can work the poison out of your system."

Jiraiya seemed to notice the other man for the first time. "Who... you?" he asked.

"I'm a doctor." The doctor smiled. "You're lucky your grandson brought you to the one doctor in this part of the country who knows ninja poisons."

"That so," Jiraiya got out, glancing at Naruto. He began to cough again. "Still tired."

The doctor nodded. "Go ahead and sleep." Jiraiya closed his eyes, and within moments began to snore.

"How can he still be tired?" Naruto asked. "He just slept for days!"

"He wasn't really asleep," the doctor answered, stroking his chin. "Those bees used a special type of paralyzing poison on him." The doctor smiled. "The easiest way to explain it is that it kept him from waking up, but it also kept him from falling completely asleep."

"Oh," Naruto answered. How could somebody be asleep but not asleep?

"Now," the doctor said, his smile vanishing, "let us discuss the matter of payment."

* * *

Sakura groaned as she observed the pile of clothes she had made. She had worn her last clean outfit yesterday, but had been so distracted by other matters that she hadn't remembered to do laundry. With a sigh, she slipped on the least filthy set of clothing and began to load the rest into one of her empty packs. If she remembered correctly, there was a laundry room on the first floor of Naruto's apartment building. She ought to have time to do a quick load before she was supposed to meet Ino and Chouji.

Once her clothes were ready, Sakura ventured into Naruto's room, searching for detergent. It took her several moments to find it, and she was not surprised to see that Naruto was almost out. Sakura made a mental note to buy some more - even if she found somewhere else to stay before she needed it, it was only polite to replace what she had used.

The thought reminded her that she needed to decide whether or not too find somewhere else to stay. She could probably afford an apartment of her own, even with the relatively low pay Leaf ninja had been receiving since the Sand's attack. It probably would be even smaller than Naruto's place, but it would be hers. On the other hand, she hoped that she would be able to make her mother see reason before too long. For the short time she planned to be on her own, it really didn't make sense to seek out somewhere else to live. Naruto's apartment suited her needs well enough.

Sakura carefully locked the door to the apartment behind her and found her way to the laundry downstairs. There were only three washers and an equal number of dryers, far too few for a building this size, but fortunately none of the machines were in use right now. Sakura quickly loaded one of the washers, then sat down on top of a dryer, as there were no chairs in the room. Determined not to waste any time, she pulled Kakashi's scroll on the Perfect Replication Technique out of her pack and set to studying it. She still couldn't get images that looked or felt very solid consistently, and she was certain that she was still wasting some chakra when she used the technique. Perhaps reading Kakashi's hints one more time would give her some ideas.

Her laundry was about done when Sakura heard someone approaching. She looked up to see a rather plump lady struggling with an overfull laundry basket in the doorway. Sakura set down her scroll and jumped to her feet. "Let me help you with that," she said, easily stabilizing the basket before it could slip out of the older woman's hands.

"Thank you," the woman gasped out as the two set the basket down near the washers. She glanced up looking at Sakura. "I don't think I've seen you here before. Did you just move in?"

"Yes," Sakura answered after a moment. There was no need to elaborate on her situation.

"Not many ninja in this part of town," the woman commented as she began to load the remaining two washers with her clothing. "You people can usually afford better."

Sakura hadn't considered that, but she realized it was true. After a moment, she shrugged. "I'm only a genin. C-rank and D-rank missions don't pay that much."

"I suppose," the woman said. "Which apartment is yours? I didn't know one had opened up."

"I'm borrowing one up on the third floor from my teammate," Sakura admitted. "He's away on a -" Sakura stopped suddenly when a wary look entered the other woman's eyes.

"You aren't teammates with that Uzumaki brat, are you?" she asked.

Sakura resisted the urge to clench a fist, remembering how rude Naruto's neighbors had been when she had mentioned his name to them. "Yes, I am," she said slowly.

The woman's eyes widened, and seemingly unknowingly she backed away from Sakura. "Oh my."

This time Sakura's fists did clench. Whatever Naruto had done, it couldn't deserve this sort of reaction. Ordinarily she might have let it pass, but right now her mental state was not conducive to such restraint. "He isn't a contagious disease," she said, letting a bit too much anger into her voice.

The woman shuddered. "Oh no," she said, obviously forcing herself to take a step closer to Sakura. "It must be terrible for you, having to be with that monster."

Sakura couldn't believe her ears. She had met people who deserved to be called monsters, but Naruto was most definitely not one of them, no matter what he had done to these people. She unthinkingly glared at woman, who backed away again. "If you had ever met a real monster," Sakura said after a moment, "you would never say such a thing."

"A real monster!" the woman exclaimed. "If that thing isn't a -" She cut off suddenly, glancing fearfully over her her shoulder.

Sakura had to remind herself that violence wasn't called for here. "Naruto is a person, not a thing." That was it. No matter what Naruto had done, these people had clearly had it coming. Sakura knew that she had said more than her share of unkind things to Naruto in the past, most of which he had deserved, but this was just insane.

The woman looked as though she was going to say something, then she grimaced and turned around rapidly, stalking out of the laundry room. Sakura thought that she heard her muttering under her breath about a law as she walked away. A moment later, Sakura's laundry finished washing, but Sakura just stared at the retreating figure until the woman vanished from sight. What could a law possibly have to do with this?

Sakura pushed the matter out of her mind. She had far more pressing concerns right now. The downright inexcusable attitude Naruto's neighbors displayed, vexing though it was, could wait. Sakura returned to studying her scroll. Once her laundry had been washed and dried, she returned to Naruto's apartment and gratefully changed into a now-clean outfit. As always, she relished the few brief moments of freedom while she took off her weights to change pants. By now, though, she could put them back on without hesitating. It was almost scary how quickly she had become accustomed to the additional weight, but a part of her was glad Kakashi wasn't here to insist that she move on to a heavier set of weights.

Sakura left the apartment and headed toward the training grounds. Along the way, she passed the ninja academy, and she smiled slightly as she watched the younger students, already outside for lunch and recess. Had it really been less than a year since she'd been an academy student herself? Sakura's hand went to her short hair as she thought of how much she had changed in so short a time.

Sitting on a bench watching his students, Iruka looked up and saw Sakura. The chuunin waved at her, and after a moment Sakura waved back, forcing a smile to her lips. The young students, just noticing her watching them, began to mutter amongst themselves. Sakura couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could guess well enough, having participated in many such conversations herself. Few things were more exciting to an academy student than a glimpse of a young genin, someone they might hope to be in a few short years.

With another wave at Iruka, Sakura continued on her way to the training grounds. When she arrived, her two prospective teammates were sitting underneath one of of the many trees that lined the training ground. Chouji was, predictably, chomping his way through a bag of potato chips. Sakura smiled at this, then straightened her face, feeling a little guilty. She had never thought much of "the fat kid" back in the academy and had indulged in no small amount of gloating that Ino was stuck with him as a teammate. Yet now she had seen him fight in the Chuunin Exam and had heard of the lengths he had gone to on the mission to retrieve Sasuke. How could she have been so shallow back in the academy?

Sakura glanced at the half-hidden sun, confirming that it was still before noon. "Good morning, Ino, Akimichi-kun."

Chouji smiled around a mouthful of chips. "Call me Chouji, if we're going to be teammates."

Sakura nodded. "All right," she said.

Ino stood. "You're late, Forehead," she said.

A thought occurred to Sakura, and she smiled evilly. "Sorry, Ino-pig. I got lost."

Ino's eyebrow twitched. "How could you possibly -"

Sakura, her senses honed by days of avoiding Anko's attempts to deposit various reptiles on her body, suddenly whirled about, a hand going to one of the kunai strapped to her leg. Ino's eyes widened as an instant later Sarutobi Asuma appeared, standing what would have been directly behind Sakura.

The mountain of a jounin smiled widely. "You really are Kakashi's student, Sakura-kun," he said. He left it unsaid whether he referred to Sakura's danger sense or her excuse for tardiness.

Sakura slowly relaxed. "Thank you," she said, preferring to assume the more complimentary explanation for Asuma's statement.

"I understand you want to take the Chuunin Exam with my students," Asuma said.

"Yes," Sakura answered. "I do."

Asuma nodded. "Ino and Chouji have asked me to make sure that you won't be a burden." Ino nodded. "Hey, Chouji!" Asuma called. "Put down those chips and come over here!"

Chouji quickly overturned the mostly empty bag over his open mouth. Throwing the bag aside he rose and walked over to where the other three ninja stood. "So what's the test?" Chouji asked.

Asuma smiled. "While I certainly could test Sakura-kun here, I think it's more important that you two test her skills yourselves. It will be your lives on the line, after all, not mine." After a moment, all three ninja nodded. "Sakura-kun?" Asuma asked as he pulled out a small bell on a string. "Kakashi gave your team the bell test, right?"

Sakura nodded. If he intended to give the three the bell test, that would be easily passed, since she could explain the real point of the test to the other two. Most likely he had something else planned. What was it going to be?

"The bell test?" Chouji asked.

"It's a test for new genin the Third Hokage developed," Asuma explained. "The genin team tries to steal two bells from the jounin teacher." Asuma smiled. "That's not what we're doing today, though."

Sakura nodded again, this time to herself. Then her eyes widened as Asuma handed her the single bell. "What?" she asked, startled.

"Sakura-kun," Asuma said, "I'll give you a five minute head-start. After that, Ino and Chouji will have a half-hour to steal the bell from you."

"What?" Ino protested.

"I thought she was the one getting tested," Chouji grumbled.

"She is," Asuma answered. "You remember the second part of the Chuunin Exam, right? This is a chance for Sakura to prove that she could be trusted to defend a scroll and a chance for you to practice taking one."

After a long moment, Ino nodded. "I'm not going to go easy on you, Sakura."

Sakura smiled. "Good," she said, slipping the bell into her pocket. "I won't be able to prove I'm not burden otherwise."

Chouji sighed. "This would be easier with Shikamaru." Sakura had to agree. The new chuunin's shadow techniques would make this test very... troublesome.

Asuma laughed. "Shikamaru-kun won't be there during the exams, Chouji," he said. After Chouji nodded, his face turned serious. "To make things a little bit simpler, I'll make it a rule that Sakura can't leave the training grounds. I shouldn't have to tell you three not to make any killing or maiming attacks." He paused, and when no one disagreed, he nodded. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," the three genin said in unison.

Asuma pulled out a stopwatch. "Sakura's five minutes begin... now!"

Without pausing to respond, Sakura turned around and raced for the trees. She was no jounin. She wasn't going to keep the bell out of Ino's hands without a plan. She already had an idea that might work, but she was going to need all five minutes to pull it off. As soon as she was out of site of the clearing, Sakura jumped onto a convenient branch and abruptly changed direction, heading for where Kakashi had given the new Team Seven the bell test. Thankfully, that training ground was not in use, and Sakura began to prepare, her hands quickly moving through sets of seals.

A bit less than five minutes later, when Ino and Chouji burst out of the tree line and onto to lake shore, Sakura stood in the center of the water. She smiled mockingly at the pair. "Can you walk on water, Ino-pig?" she asked.

Ino glared at Sakura. "We aren't academy students," she said. "A little trick like that won't stop us." She glanced at her partner. "Chouji," she said sharply.

The boy nodded, veering off to circle around behind Sakura ass Ino approached from the front. Sakura merely stood still as the other two ninja neared, the mocking smile never leaving her face. Cautiously, Ino and Chouji began to approach, ready for a sudden attack that never came, not even when they worked out the confidence to attack themselves. Sakura merely laughed, dancing through their blows with inhuman speed.

"Is that all you two can do?" she asked.

Ino grinned back at her. "We're just getting started." She broke away from Sakura, beginning to form seals. Chouji pressed his attacks, but now he seemed more concerned with keeping Sakura from running away than going for the bell. Sakura smiled as she guessed the technique Ino was performing. "Are you sure you want to use that on the water?" she asked as she darted aside, narrowly avoiding one of Chouji's punches.

Ino smiled. "This technique's a little different," she said as she finished the seals. "Paraly -" Sakura suddenly plunged into the water, and Ino cut off. "Spread out," she barked at Chouji. "She'll be vulnerable when she surfaces."

Chouji nodded and complied. For several moments it seemed that Sakura had no intention of returning to the surface. Then coils of mist began to form over the lake, rapidly thickening and spreading. Ino cursed. "We won't be able to see a thing," she snarled.

"Mist Concealment Technique," Chouji commented. "Like that time in River Country." The two ninja traded a look moments before they lost sight of each other in the mist.

Once the mist had finished thickening, Sakura pulled herself above the water behind Ino, but despite her best efforts made a small splash. Ino whirled about, racing in the direction of the sound. She suddenly froze as Chouji called out, "She's over this way!" as he ran in the opposite direction.

"She's made replications!" Ino yelled back. Now there was the sound of at least a dozen Sakura moving about the lake.

On the lake shore, sitting on top of one of the three wooden poles, the real Sakura smiled. They were already halfway through with the test, and her two opponents had spent their whole time trying to fight her fake replications. It had been difficult to keep the first clone real-seeming in broad daylight and moving fast enough to avoid the pairs' attacks. Once they'd given her an excuse to use the Mist Concealment Technique, though, things had gotten easier. Now she was creating little more than wisps of color and the sounds of splashing, moving rapidly over the lake shore. If her chakra held out, she could keep this going for the rest of the test.

Sakura suddenly started. Was that the sound of movement behind her? Sakura jumped from her perch mere moments before several kunai hit where she'd been standing. Most likely, the were positioned to pin her clothing to to the wood, but Sakura didn't have time to check as her gaze followed the kunai's path back to where Ino stood on an overhanging tree branch.

"You're a little over-confident, Forehead," the other girl commented. "I guessed that you'd make a break for it once you raised the mist, but I'd never have thought you'd just sit back and watch."

Sakura resisted the urge to curse. "Replications?" she asked, gesturing back at the mist-covered lake.

"Of course," Ino answered.

Sakura released both the mist and the Perfect Replication Technique. When the mist began to clear, the lake's surface was empty. Where was Chouji? Sakura's hand went to her kunai as she glanced about, careful to keep an eye on the smirking Ino. Too late, she guessed where the attack would come from.

Chouji burst from the earth behind Sakura, roaring out "Partial Multi-size Technique!" Swollen to gargantuan size, one arm struck out, grabbing Sakura before she could dodge or position a replacement. Sakura began to struggle, slowly managing to pull out her kunai. If she could cut Chouji's over-sized hand, she might be able to get loose.

"It's too late," Ino said as she jumped down from the tree. Her hands racing through a far-too-familiar set of seals. "Mind-Body Switch Technique!"

An instant later, Ino's body slumped to the ground as Sakura's stopped its struggles. "Ino?" Chouji asked carefully.

Sakura cursed fiercely in her mind as an alien smile formed on her lips. "Mockingbird," her voice said from her lips. "It's me." Sakura tried to remember how she had managed to eject her unwanted passenger in the last exam, but now matter how she struggled she could not replicate the feat.

Chouji released Sakura's body, his hand and arm shrinking back to a human size. Sakura's hand went into her pocket, fishing out the bell and tossing it to Chouji. The boy caught it easily. "That's it," Ino said through Sakura's lips.

Asuma appeared out of nowhere, nodding as he glanced at his stopwatch. "Just short of twenty-five minutes. Not bad," he said.

Ino smiled one last smile on Sakura's face, then formed her rival's hands into a single seal. "Release!" Sakura stumbled as control returned to her body.

Ino slowly rose. "Too bad for you, Forehead," she said.

Sakura's eyebrow twitched. She'd come so far since the last exam, but not far enough. She wasn't going to let it end like this. She'd find another team somehow, train harder, and beat Ino once and for all in the exam.

"Does she pass?" Chouji asked suddenly. Sakura froze. Of course she didn't; they'd gotten the bell, after all.

"That's really up to you two," Asuma answered. "She'll be your teammate, not mine. Do you think she'll be a burden to you?"

Chouji and Ino traded a look as Sakura considered this. Asuma never had said what the conditions for passing the test were, had he? Sakura looked at Ino and saw the unusually thoughtful look on her rival's face.

"It's your decision, Ino," Chouji said after a moment.

Ino sighed, walking forward to stand in front of Sakura. The two studied each other for a moment, then Ino suddenly stuck out her hand. "I'm still going to crush you in the third exam, Forehead," she said.

Sakura accepted Ino's hand. "Trust me, Ino-pig, the feeling is mutual," she answered.

Ino smiled. "Until then, Sakura, I guess we're teammates."

Sakura slowly smiled back. "I guess so, Ino." After a long moment, the two firmly shook hands.

* * *

**Day Twenty**

No matter how hard she tried, Sakura wasn't able to make herself take the final steps to the door of what had been her house all of her life. She had walked this same path effortlessly countless times before, but now she might as well have been trying to walk up a sheer cliff without using chakra. Anger warred with fear deep within her, though she was able to keep even the slightest hint of these churning emotions from her impassive face.

Despite this, she still found herself thinking that it would be easier for her to enter the house thinking Orochimaru was inside, rather than her mother. Orochimaru she feared more than she cared to admit even to herself, but it was a simple fear. Were she strong enough, she would face him without hesitation. Her mother was a different story. Even had Sakura been granted all the power of the Hokages, she would still fear to take these last few steps. This fear had nothing to do with strength or weakness. Her mother was no ninja, but she could hurt Sakura in ways no one else could even dream of.

Sakura tried not to dwell on it, but could not stop her mind from thinking of how alone she was right now. Sasuke had... left. Naruto was away and would not be back for a long time. Even Kakashi was on a mission. It was scary to think that Ino was the closest thing to a friend she had right now. Ino - the only person in her academy class she had hated more than Naruto!

Sakura needed her mother. She was the only family Sakura had ever known. Her mother had always been there for her, a comforting presence that she had come to take for granted. Even before she had met Sasuke, she had wanted to excel as a ninja, to make her mother proud of her. Yet now that drive had somehow driven a wedge between them.

The thought strengthened Sakura's anger. How could her mother not see how important being a ninja was to her? How could she demand that Sakura abandon what she had spent her whole life striving toward? Some small part of Sakura could imagine her mother fearing that her daughter would die like her husband, but she could not understand why this had only become a problem now. Her mother had to have known what sending her to the ninja academy had meant. She had still chosen to send Sakura to follow in her father's footsteps.

"Sakura-san! Good morning!"

Sakura almost jumped at the voice that suddenly interrupted her thoughts. She slowly turned around, forcing a smile to her face. "Good morning, Lee-san," she said. The other genin was jogging in place, large metal bands weighing down his arms. His leg weights were hidden by orange fabric just like Sakura now wore, and Sakura repressed a sudden shudder at the thought of how much Lee's weights had to weigh. "What brings you here?"

"Gai-sensei is on a mission, so I have to train on my own today," Lee explained, still jogging in place. "I decided to run down every road in the village without stopping!"

"I see," Sakura said slowly, very glad she had no intention of becoming a taijutsu specialist. Even without weights, she doubted she could make it even a quarter of the way through that task.

"Are you going to be taking the Chuunin Exam again, Sakura-san?" Lee asked. He grinned widely. "This time I'm going to make it to the final round!"

It was amazing that Lee could talk so happily of the Chuunin Exam. Sakura occasionally had nightmares about the end of his match with Gaara, and those were pleasant compared to the ones where she had been paired with the insane Sand ninja in the preliminaries. Sakura couldn't keep a smile off her face at the other ninja's seemingly inexhaustible supplies of cheer and enthusiasm. "I will be," she answered. Even if it meant she never spoke civilly to her mother again.

Lee's grin, impossibly, widened even further. "Good luck!" he said. He waved once, then broke into a run. Sakura shook her head as he vanished. If he was that fast with those weights, it was almost unimaginable how quickly he would move without them.

Sakura turned back to the door to her house, and without stopping to let herself become lost in thought again, stepped forward and knocked loudly. Even as the sound of the knock faded, Sakura's stomach began to twist itself into knots in fear, but it was too late to take the knock back. After what seemed an eternity but couldn't have been more than a minute, the door opened.

Haruno Amaya's face hardened as she saw her daughter. "I told you to leave and not come back, ninja," she said harshly.

Sakura's face was smooth, but she barely kept her fists from clenching. It seemed as though any hopes she had held that her mother had experienced a change of heart were in vain. "Let me in, Mother," she said, her voice tight and controlled. Showing anger at this stage would be worse than useless.

"Goodbye, Sakura-san," her mother said, shutting the door.

Sakura easily grabbed the door and held it open. Her mother glared at her, but Sakura didn't release the door. "Let me in, Mother," she repeated. "We need to talk."

"Why should I?" her mother asked.

"Because I'm your daughter, and it isn't right for -"

Her mother interrupted her with a snarl. "I have no daughter!" she said, almost yelling. "Leave here and don't ever come back!" Her mother suddenly strained against Sakura's hold on the door. Caught by surprise, Sakura wasn't able to push back in time, and had to let go before her fingers were caught. The door slammed shut with a loud thud, and an instant later there was the sound of it being locked.

Staring at the closed door to what had always been her home, Sakura trembled, almost collapsing. Though she had known that this might happen, somehow it seemed even worse than how she had ever imagined this meeting going. Her eyes watered as she whirled about and slowly walked away, but Sakura held the tears in.

She would not cry.

* * *

Jiraiya, now awake but still bed-ridden, had quickly devoured the food that had been left at him as he listened to Naruto tell the story of how he had been brought here. "Good work, Naruto," Jiraiya said after a moment. "You took an awful risk, but you didn't have much choice."

Naruto nodded, remembering his fears as he had set out to take Jiraiya to this town. If it had had been a Rock ninja base instead of a civilian town, it would have been a disastrous choice. Fortunately, luck had been with him.

Jiraiya grimaced. "That must have been a much more powerful poison than I had thought. An ordinary poison wouldn't put me out like that." The two were able to talk freely, as the doctor was out making a house call elsewhere in the town. Jiraiya sighed. "The Kamizuru Clan, huh?"

"Who're they?" Naruto asked.

For a moment, Jiraiya didn't answer. Then he said, "You know the Aburame Clan, right?"

Naruto nodded. "Of course." It wasn't like he could forget Shino. Naruto repressed a shudder. He didn't mind bugs, really, but they weren't exactly his favorite things in the world either.

"The Kamizuru are a clan of bug users like them," Jiraiya said. "The two clans have been rivals since before the Leaf Village was founded." Jiraiya sighed. "Back during the last war with the Rock, the Kamizuru were going to launch an attack on the Aburame right before the truce was going to be signed. If it had worked they might have wiped out their rivals once and for all." Jiraiya rubbed his chin. "The Fourth and I - though he wasn't the Fourth yet, of course - managed to uncover the plot and warn the Aburame in time." Jiraiya's eyes were distant, and he paused, apparently lost in the past.

"And then?" Naruto prompted.

"The Aburame laid a trap, and it was the Kamizuru who were nearly wiped out," Jiraiya said. "The old Tsuchikage eventually disbanded the clan for attacking without his approval and exiled the survivors from the Rock." Jiraiya sighed, laying back on the bed. "Something must have changed for the Kamizuru to be allowed to rejoin."

"What?" Naruto asked.

"How should I know?" Jiraiya said, but after a moment he answered anyway. "Part of it would be that the Leaf are in no position to object right now. There's probably still something else, though." Jiraiya sighed again. "I just hope it isn't a sign that the Rock are thinking of war." Jiraiya rolled over in bed, facing away from Naruto. "Now let me go back to sleep, boy."

Before Jiraiya could accomplish this, the door opened and the doctor returned. Before anyone else could speak, he glared at Naruto. "It seems you've still be lying to me, boy," he said as he shut the door behind him.

"What?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya sat up in bed, suddenly seeming far stronger than a moment ago.

"There's a Rock ninja that just came to town asking after you two." The doctor grimaced. "Says you two are Leaf spies."

"We're," Naruto began, but he cut off as Jiraiya laid a warning hand on his arm.

"I'm sure that you can understand why my student said what he did," Jiraiya said, his voice flat.

"Oh, yes," the doctor said. "I really half-expected something like this, but..." He trailed off, then started again. "You must understand that this places me in a very difficult position."

"Of course," Jiraiya said. After a moment's struggle, he rose. "We can be gone in just a moment."

"No!" the doctor protested. "You aren't ready to travel." The doctor began to pace back and forth in front of the door, swearing under his breath. "Go down to the basement," he said. "There are some empty crates down there that are large enough to hide you two."

"Thank you," Jiraiya said after a moment, turning toward the stairs. "Come on, boy." Jiraiya suddenly stumbled, and Naruto caught him. "Damn it," Jiraiya said, but he let Naruto help him down the stairway. Once down in the basement, the two ninja quickly found the crates the doctor had spoken of and hidden themselves. "I wish I had the focus to pull off a genjutsu," Jiraiya muttered as he carefully closed the lid of the crate.

What seemed like an eternity later, there was the sound of footsteps on the stairway. Naruto tensed, then forced himself to relax. "You see, Kamizuru-sama?" came the doctor's nervous voice. "No one down here."

"Is that so?" a woman said. For a moment, Naruto thought he heard a buzzing sound, but it quickly stopped before he could be certain whether or not it was only his imagination. "So it seems," the woman said after a moment. "Tell me again what you know."

"Yes, of course," the doctor said. "The boy came by with the old man, who was in some sort of coma. He said something about a bee sting, but he didn't have any money to pay so I made him leave."

The woman chuckled. "You're a cruel man."

"This business isn't cheap," the doctor answered. "I gave him some free advice on keeping the old man fed, but I couldn't afford to treat him for free." The doctor paused, then continued. "He was probably going to die anyway, no matter what I did."

"Did the boy say anything about where he was headed next?" the woman asked. Naruto didn't hear the doctor say anything, but he guessed he shook his head. "I see," the woman said. "Thank you for your cooperation." The two headed back up the stairs.

After what seemed like another eternity, the doctor came back down. "It's safe," he said, and Naruto and Jiraiya emerged from the crates.

"Thank you," Jiraiya said. "Not many people would have helped us."

The doctor smiled thinly. "I'm not many people."

"Why did you hide us?" Naruto asked.

The doctor sighed. "Back when I worked in the Rock Village, sometimes they brought me prisoners." Jiraiya nodded, but the doctor saw Naruto's look of incomprehension and continued. "They would torture them within an inch of their lives, then bring them to the hospital. We had to heal them as quickly as possible, so that the interrogation could continue. Sometimes we saw the same prisoner four or five times before he broke."

"That's awful," Naruto said after a moment.

The doctor smiled grimly. "So it is," he said. He paused for a long moment before continuing. "Once I let a captured Sand ninja die. They couldn't prove anything, or I wouldn't be here today, but I'm sure they suspected. I decided to leave soon afterwards."

"A wise decision," Jiraiya said after a moment.

"So you see," the doctor said, "there's no great love between the Rock and me." He smiled again. "You are lucky beyond belief that you found me, boy."

Naruto just nodded. Jiraiya gave the doctor a long look. "We shouldn't trouble you anymore. We'll leave tonight."

"No!" the doctor protested. "It's too soon. Stay one more day, to make sure you don't suffer a relapse. Please!"

"All right," Jiraiya said slowly. "One more day."

* * *

**Day Twenty-one**

The next day, Jiraiya was indeed feeling much better. By the time Naruto awoke, he was already out of bed and sorting through the pack Naruto had brought. "I can't believe you left my scrolls behind," Jiraiya said as soon as he saw his student had awoken. "Those are important."

Naruto snorted. "You're too heavy, Ero-sennin," he answered. "I couldn't carry both you and them." The genin put on a martyred expression. "I even left the last of my ramen behind!"

Jiraiya blinked. "Is that so?" he asked slowly as he began to repack the bag. "I thought we were out."

Naruto's expression became nervous. "I hid some so you wouldn't take them," he admitted.

Jiraiya laughed. "In your case, I'm afraid we'll have to add a new ninja vice. Drink, money, women, and ramen." He shook his head sadly.

Naruto pouted, turning away from Jiraiya. "Stupid Ero-sennin. Ramen is a virtue, not a vice." For a long moment, the two ninja were silent, then they simultaneously burst out laughing.

Jiraiya shook his head again, this time in amusement. "Somehow I don't think the academy textbook writers would go for either of those. And the ramen sellers in the Leaf Village would probably put out a bounty on my head."

Naruto's laughing stopped instantly as he thoughtfully gazed upward. "I wonder how much ramen I could buy with that," he said quietly.

Jiraiya smiled wryly. "You've got a long ways to go before you could collect a bounty on me, boy," he said.

"What's all this noise?" came the doctor's grumpy voice as he descended the stairs. He rubbed at his eyes. "I see you two are lively this morning." He gestured vaguely at Jiraiya. "Get over there and I'll take a look at you." He muttered something under his breath about ninja and their ridiculous recovery times as Jiraiya complied.

Several minutes later, the doctor pronounced Jiraiya fit. "You'll still tire easily for a couple days," he said, "but if you don't press yourself you'll do fine." The doctor vanished downstairs and emerged with a small bottle of pills. "Take one of these if you start feeling light-headed. I doubt you'll need them, but just in case."

"Thank you," Jiraiya said as he took the bottle.

"Don't thank me," the doctor replied. "It's all in my bill, after all."

Jiraiya nodded. "What's the damage?" The doctor rattled off an incredibly high number, and Naruto paled. Jiraiya just pulled out his checkbook and began to write. As he finished signing, there was a thunderous knock on the doorway.

"Jiraiya of the Hidden Leaf!" a familiar women's voice shouted. "Come out with your student and we might let the doctor live!"

Jiraiya froze, then added another zero to the end of the sum on the check. He handed it to the doctor, who stood frozen. "Go down to the basement," he said, "and don't come out until the noise stops."

"But," the doctor protested, but he didn't seem able to come up with any valid objection.

"This is our fight, not yours," Jiraiya said. "Naruto, get the pack!" The genin hastened to comply as the doctor slowly made his way downstairs.

"This is your last warning!" the woman outside shouted.

"Come on," Jiraiya said to Naruto as he walked over to the door. "Are you ready?" Naruto nodded, and the two stepped outside.

The first thing that they noticed was the dome of bees that completely enclosed the doctor's office. There were so many that they almost blocked out the sun, casting the area into a strange twilight. The second thing they noticed were the other three people who were inside the dome. The woman who had been speaking now stood several paces back from the door, flanked by two men. One was Kamizuru Kurobachi. The other was a blond man who wore small glasses. All three wore Rock forehead protectors.

"So the fugitives emerge," the new man said, smirking.

Jiraiya's face was hard. "I suppose negotiation is not an option," he said.

The woman laughed cruelly. "Of course not," she said, a thin smile drawing across her face. "After what you did to our clan, we will settle for nothing but your death."

"You are all Kamizuru, then?" Jiraiya asked quietly.

The woman nodded. "I am Kamizuru Suzumebachi. You've already met Kurobachi." She gestured at the blond. "This is Jibachi." Her eyes fell on Naruto. "Pray return the favor, O Great Toad Hermit, and introduce to us your new student."

Naruto snarled, reaching for a kunai. "I'm Uzumaki Nar -"

"Naruto!" Jiraiya snapped, cutting the genin off. "Get back and stay back; this fight is out of your league."

"But," Naruto began to protest.

"Guard the door," Jiraiya said. Naruto's eyes widened and he almost stumbled backward in his haste. He hadn't considered that the Rock ninja might go after the doctor.

"Uzumaki, huh?" Suzumebachi said as her eyes followed Naruto. "I guess Kurobachi's guess was wrong. No matter." Her hands formed a single seal. "I do not suppose you will surrender quietly?" she asked. Jiraiya only snorted, and the Rock kunoichi smiled. "Very well. Thousand Bee Technique!" A line of bees detached themselves from the dome, flying directly at Jiraiya. As they neared they spread out into a wall, firing their stingers at their target.

Jiraiya's hands blurred into a seal. "Whirlwind Counter!" The winds he summoned grabbed hold of the the stingers, hurling them at his opponents. The Rock ninja darted out of the way, their hands already racing through another set of seals. Jiraiya followed suit, finishing first as he brought one hand up to his mouth. "Katon: Dragon Fire Technique!" A line of fire sprayed from his open mouth at the three Kamizuru ninja.

Suzumebachi and Kurobachi dodged in time, but Jibachi was caught in the flames. His body seemed to melt away from the heat , but as the fire died out instead of ashes there was a pile of charred bee corpses. Jiraiya surmised that it was some sort of replication technique, but he had no time to consider the real Jibachi's whereabouts.

Suzumebachi bit at her thumb, her hands blurring into another set of seals. Jiraiya quickly began to form seals of his own, but before he could finish his technique Kurobachi struck. "Thousand Bee Technique!" Another line of bees flew out of the dome overhead and flew at Jiraiya.

The Sannin danced back, forced to abandon the technique he had started. "Whirlwind Counter!" he shouted, sending the captured stingers at Kurobachi to no effect.

Suzumebachi's hands plunged to the ground. "Doton: Summoning - Bee Hive Technique!" Lines of black characters rapidly crawled across the ground toward Jiraiya from where her hands rested. As the Leaf ninja jumped back again, an impossibly large hive - bigger than Jiraiya himself - burst from the earth where he had been standing. Almost instantly, a huge cloud of bees flew out of the hive, swarming around Jiraiya.

"Ero-sennin!" Naruto shouted, panicked. Only a few stings had knocked Jiraiya out before, and now he was getting stung hundreds or thousands of times.

"Katon: Firewall Technique," came Jiraiya's calm voice from the center of the swarm. The bees surrounding him suddenly vanished in a storm of flame. The bee hive caught fire from the sheer heat of the inferno, quickly vanishing in a puff of white smoke. When the flames vanished, Jiraiya's hair, which had grown impossibly long and hard to wrap him in a protective cocoon, quickly shrunk back to its proper length.

"I'm a little disappointed," Jiraiya said. "I thought you three would have something better prepared for your grand attempt to avenge your clan."

The door to the doctor's office flung open, almost hitting Naruto. "How about this?" Jibachi said as he emerged, dragging the doctor after him. He placed a kunai at the hostage's throat. "Surrender now or I'll kill him," he said unnecessarily.

Naruto drew a kunai of his own. "You bastard," he growled.

Jibachi laughed, flicking his kunai up to draw a line of blood across the doctor's cheek. The doctor fainted, and Jibachi laughed again. "Careful, boy," the Rock ninja said. "Now drop the kunai before I kill him."

Naruto snarled, his whole body shaking in rage. His eyes suddenly narrowed, then widened again as they changed color. His hands twitched, his fingernails beginning to lengthen slightly. The marks on his face darkened as he stared up at Jibachi. "I'll kill you first," he growled out.

Jibachi's kunai almost dropped from his nerveless fingers as he started back, almost frozen by the sudden wave of power and murderous intent sweeping out from Naruto. "Wha -" he managed to get out before Naruto pounced.

In an instant, Jiraiya was there, forcing Naruto away at the same time as he freed the doctor and casually tossed Jibachi back at the other two Rock ninja. "He's not worth it," he told Naruto as he carefully set the doctor down. With visible effort, Naruto restrained himself, and the sudden evil presence vanished.

"What was that?" Suzumebachi asked as she helped Jibachi to his feet.

"I'm through playing with you," Jiraiya said harshly, his hands forming seals.

Suzumebachi snarled. "It won't do you any good," she said as she formed seals of her own. The other two Rock ninja followed suit, Jibachi slightly more slowly.

Jiraiya finished well before his opponents. "Mass Shadow Replication Technique!" There was a sea of white smoke, and when it faded away all three Rock ninja froze at the sight that awaited him. A horde of Jiraiya surrounded them, covering the entire roadway in front of the doctor's office. More Jiraiyas crowded the roof of the office, staring down at the suddenly insignificant seeming Kamizuru.

The replications smirked in unison, each holding out a hand. "Rasengan!" a hundred voices shouted, and chakra began to gather in a hundred hands.

Suzumebachi's eyes widened, and her hands quickly moved into another set of seals. Even as the replications began to leap at the three ninja, they sank into the earth, vanishing without a trace. A moment later, the dome of bees was briefly replaced by a dome of pale smoke. Then it disappeared entirely, revealing the spectators that had been watching from something approximating a safe distance.

All but one Jiraiya vanished in their own puffs of smoke. The remaining Jiraiya sighed, letting the Rasengan in his hand die away as he walked over to where Naruto was trying to wake up the doctor. He glanced back at the spectators, who were quickly making themselves scarce. "This is going to cause a real big mess, isn't it?" he muttered to himself.

* * *

"All right," Tsunade said as she gazed at the people who were currently crowding her office. "I'm sure you all know why we're all here this morning." In the back of the room stood a small horde of elite chuunin wearing their gray uniforms. Their muttering cut off instantly as Tsunade spoke.

The door to the office opened suddenly, admitting a single special jounin. "Sorry I'm late," Mitarashi Anko said as she pushed her way through the chuunin to stand between Morino Ibiki and Shiranui Genma, the other two examiners.

Asuma sighed, glancing sideways at Kurenai. The other jounin just smirked back at him, making a slight shrug. Apparently she had no idea why her friend was late. Asuma decided he probably didn't want to know, and turned his attention back to the Hokage.

"Shizune," Tsunade said, turning to the woman who stood unobtrusively behind her, "am I allowed to dismiss examiners for tardiness?"

"I don't think so, Hokage-sama," Shizune said, barely stifling a chuckle. Anko let out a theatrical sigh of relief.

"Drat," Tsunade muttered. "All right then, let's get down to business. Jounin with new genin teams, step forward." The Hokage glanced at the papers on her desk. "That's Suzume-san, Uzuki-san, and Funeno-san, in case any of you three have somehow forgotten." The three jounin walked up to stand in a line in front of Tsunade's desk. "I'm supposed to tell you a bunch of boring junk you already know," Tsunade said, "but I won't waste anyone's time. You know your teams meet the minimum requirements to take the exam. Are you three nominating anyone for this exam? Suzume-san, you first."

The named jounin, a mousy woman who wore glasses, stepped forward. Asuma studied her carefully. He didn't know her very well - she was an ex-academy instructor who'd been promoted to full jounin in the last round of exams, and that was about the limit of his knowledge of her. "From Team One that I lead," she began, "Mitokado Fuki, Uzuki Ami, Inuzuka Shinta. I recommend those three for the Chuunin Selection Exam under my name, Suzume Namida." The chuunin in the back began to mutter excitedly.

Namida stepped back and the next jounin stepped forward. Asuma's eyes narrowed. This one, he knew more of. She had left ANBU to lead a team shortly after the last Chuunin Exam. Hadn't she served under Kakashi for a while? "From Team Three that I lead: Namiashi Honzo, Toriichi Kasumi, Hijiri Eiji," the purple-haired woman stated. "I recommend those three for the Chuunin Selection Exam under my name, Uzuki Yuugao."

Now it was the third jounin's turn, and Asuma smiled. Now Daikoku he knew well. He was fun to go out with and the only one of the three who had lead a team before. He was another ex-academy instructor, and had been the last jounin to recommend a rookie team for the Chuunin Exam before the last exams. He could be surprisingly cautious though, and Asuma wasn't certain whether he'd recommend his team this time. "From Team Four that I lead: Utatane Izumo, Yamashiro Naizen, Tatami Mai. I recommend those three for the Chuunin Selection Exam under my name, Funeno Daikoku." The muttering among the chuunin was now even louder. Daikoku rubbed his short beard as he stepped back, half-turning and flashing a grin at Asuma. "You didn't think we'd let you two and Hatake show us up, did you?"

Asuma and Kurenai just traded an amused look. It was inevitable, Asuma supposed. After the incredible success of the "Rookie Nine" every jounin with a fresh team was going to try and match that accomplishment for a while. At least this time the new genin's academy teacher wasn't going to protest - he was probably equally eager to match Iruka.

Tsunade muttered something under her breath, then spoke up. "All right, next step, the last class of genin. Yuuhi-san, Sarutobi-san, I assume you wouldn't waste your time by being here if you didn't have have teams to nominate. Go ahead."

Kurenai stepped forward first. "From Team Eight that I lead: Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino. I renominate those three for the Chuunin Selection Exam under my name, Yuuhi Kurenai." She stepped back, allowing Asuma to take her place.

"From Team Ten that I lead: Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji." Asuma paused. He had needed to look up the formal words for nominating genin that weren't under his command. "From Team Seven that Hatake Kakashi leads, with his permission: Haruno Sakura." Tsunade smiled at him as though she was very pleased, a fact that Asuma filed away for future consideration. "I renominate those three for the Chuunin Selection Exam under my name, Sarutobi Asuma," he finished, stepping back.

Before Tsunade could speak, another jounin stepped forward, grinning widely. Asuma was barely able to keep from burying his face in his hands. "What a glorious day this is in the springtime of all our students' youths!" Gai proclaimed.

"You're supposed to wait for me to call on you, Maito-san," Tsunade said sourly.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama," Gai apologized, "but I am overcome by pride for all this village's genin."

"Very nice," Tsunade said after a moment. "Hurry up and nominate your team; I have other things to discuss."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Gai said, taking a deep breath. "From Team Sixteen that I lead: Rock Lee, Hyuuga Neji, Tenten. I renominate those three for the Chuunin Selection Exam under my name, Maito Gai."

"All right," Tsunade said, making several notes on a piece of paper as Gai stepped back. "With the teams that no longer need jounin recommendation that have indicated they will participate in the exam, the Hidden Village of the Leaf will have twenty-one teams participating in the Chuunin Exam." She set the paper aside, pulling out another sheet. "From the Hidden Village of Sand, five teams. From the Hidden Village of Rain, two teams. From the Hidden Village of Waterfall, three teams. From the Hidden Village of Grass, seven teams."

Asuma nodded to himself. Except for the Grass, the numbers were down from six months ago, but that was to be expected. The Sand would not want to send too many teams for fear of the action being misinterpreted as preparation for another betrayal. The other villages were still well within their normal range except for the Rain, but perhaps the Rain had simply had a bad six months.

Tsunade sighed, setting the piece of paper aside. "From the Hidden Village of the Mist, one team." Almost instantly, the room descended into pandemonium.

Kurenai laid a hand on Asuma's shoulder. "That's not normal," she said quietly.

Asuma nodded. "Definitely not."

"Wait just a minute," came Anko's voice, cutting above the crowd. "After what just -"

"That's precisely why, Mitarashi-san," Tsunade interrupted. "I will speak with you later about this." Asuma filed that little exchange away for future consideration as well, while Tsunade continued. "In light of recent hostile encounters between the Leaf and the Mist, the Mizukage has asked to be allowed to send a team to our Chuunin Exam as a sign of good faith. There is precedent for such a request, and I have consulted with the village council and we have decided to agree.

"I do not need to tell you that this team will be searching for any weaknesses it can uncover. I do not believe it will find any," Tsunade continued. "I believe that they will report back to the Mizukage that the Leaf, contrary to all rumors, are still strong." Tsunade stood. "The Hidden Village of the Leaf's Chuunin Selection Exam will commence two weeks from today. You know what to do. That is all."

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings

1) And that's another chapter! As always, any and all comments are most welcome. This chapter follows the trend of being longer than the previous and breaking my personal record for longest chapter yet again.

2) Random factoid time: Of the three new jounin and their genin teams introduced in the last scene, all the jounin and four of the genin have actually appeared in the anime. All of the genin are at least related to someone who has appeared in the anime. If you're bored and have nothing better to do, you can sit down with a good character listing (I recommend Leafninja's) and figure it out.

3) Given that it was a common complaint on the last chapter, I tried to give Naruto a bit more of a chance to shine and show that he's not quite as dumb as he sometimes looks. I hope I succeeded.

4) Thanks to Jed Hagen for his comments on the draft.

Draft Started: November 29, 2005

Draft Finished: December 18, 2005

Draft Released: December 19, 2005

Final Released: December 23, 2005


	5. Chapter 4: Enemies and Allies

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 4: Enemies and Allies

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, puppies.

* * *

**Day Twenty-two**

Jiraiya nodded, satisfied, as Naruto pulled the abandoned packs out from where he'd hidden them. "Good," the Toad Hermit commented. "You must have learned something about hiding things."

Naruto grinned. "It's all just like I left it." He tossed a pack at Jiraiya who easily caught it. "Those are your scrolls." Naruto then turned to a more important matter. How to get the ramen out of its hiding place without his teacher noticing? He just couldn't trust Jiraiya not to take the ramen if he knew where it was. It was bad enough that he had slipped and let Jiraiya know that there was still some ramen left.

While Naruto plotted, the doctor shuffled his feet nervously. Yesterday Jiraiya had interrupted Naruto's attempts to wake the man, instead telling Naruto to take the unconscious doctor with them as they fled the village. Naruto hadn't needed to ask why. It wouldn't be safe for him there, since it was known that he had aided fugitives who were hiding from the Rock ninja. "Can I go back now?" the doctor asked suddenly.

Naruto grimaced. Apparently in this at least, he was smarter than the doctor. Jiraiya only sighed. "I can't stop you, if that's what you want to do. I wouldn't recommend that, though. You should know what the Rock would do to you."

The doctor winced, suddenly seeming much smaller. "What do you suggest I do then?" he asked weakly. "I can't go with you on your mission or whatever. I'm just a doctor, not a medical ninja."

"Do you still have the check I wrote you?" Jiraiya asked. The doctor nodded, and Jiraiya pulled a small scroll out of the pack Naruto had tossed him. He set the pack down and quickly began to write. After several minutes, he handed the scroll to the doctor. "There. Take that and go to the Fire Country and find a Leaf ninja. They'll get you to the Leaf Village, and the Hokage will help you set up a practice there or anywhere you want."

"On your word?" the doctor asked suspiciously.

Jiraiya sighed. "Does the name Jiraiya the Toad Hermit mean anything to you?"

The doctor's eyes widened. "I thought you were just named after him." He stared at the scroll again, a little awed. "But how am I supposed to get to Fire Country?"

"You have money," Jiraiya reminded him. "I've got some hair dye you can use. Frankly, you aren't important enough for the Rock to spend much effort on you. If you move quickly, you won't have any problem getting on a ship to Lightning Country, and from there you can head south easily enough. I wish I could do more, but my options are limited." After a long moment, the doctor nodded, and Jiraiya set about helping him prepare for the journey.

When the doctor had set off on his way, Jiraiya turned back to Naruto. The young genin grinned at his teacher, having succesfully extracted his remaining supply of ramen and put it back in his own pack. There was no way the evil old pervert was getting his hands on any more of his special emergency supply of ramen. He was going to need it if they stayed in this ramen-forsaken country for very much longer.

Jiraiya gave his student a long look, but eventually decided against interrogating him as to the origin of his sneaky grin. Whatever it was, it wasn't worth getting into. "Let's get going," Jiraiya said. "Those Rock ninja will almost certainly find this spot before too long, and I don't intend to be here when they do."

Naruto nodded, standing as he threw his pack over his shoulders. "Where do we go?"

"North," Jiraiya said. "North and west. We're going to cut across country and head straight for my friend's place. It's still warm enough that we shouldn't have any problem with snow, and there's less chance of innocents getting caught in our fights that way. Hopefully my friend will be able to clear up this mess."

"Right," Naruto said. He began to walk towards the cave door, then stopped. "What about my training? Give me something to work on!"

Jiraiya smiled. "Giving up on the Whirlwind Counter already?" he asked.

"I can't focus when we're moving," Naruto complained.

"All right," Jiraiya said. "There's a taijutsu technique you can practice on the way, that might be useful against our pursuers. Now let's go. There's no time to waste."

* * *

Kamizuru Suzumebachi was not pleased. She had hoped that by now her clan would have been avenged, the man who had orchestrated its downfall slain by her own hands. Instead the Toad Hermit had mocked them, in retrospect treating their battle almost as a game until Jibachi had brought out the hostage. Then he had casually displayed a power that they could not easily match. There were not many outside the Leaf Village who knew of the Rasengan, but Suzumebachi had learned all she could of Jiraiya and his famous apprentice. She had sought and found the two people who knew the most of the Toad Hermit, and while Tsunade had refused to aid her quest for vengeance, the third Sannin had proved much more forthcoming and had shared much knowledge with her. 

How could anyone, even one of the legendary Sannin, have enough chakra to perform the Rasengan when his chakra was equally divided among a hundred shadow replications? Orochimaru had told her the basic theory behind the technique in their long ago meeting, and the sheer scale of the chakra required had astounded her. The thought that Jiraiya could muster at least a hundred times that amount made Suzumebachi tremble. There was no way the three of them could meet that sort of power head on, even with her grandfather's techniques restored to them. Kurobachi had been very lucky to have poisoned Jiraiya in their first meeting and had likely succeeded only because he had been underestimated. That would not happen again.

If only they had been able to strike before the Sannin had recovered. Despite that strange aura he had briefly summoned, the boy traveling with him did not seem terribly dangerous. With Jiraiya out of the picture, he could have been easily overwhelmed. Instead, though, Suzumebachi had been cautious when she had found their hiding place, waiting until Kurobachi and Jibachi had arrived to attack. That delay seemed to have been fatal to her hopes.

Suzumebachi was jarred from her musing by the buzzing sound of a swarm of bees approaching rapidly. The bees flew down to hover near her, arranging themselves into the rough shape of a man. There was a brief blurring, and the rough shape became the perfect image of Jibachi. "We found the doctor's scent," he said without wasting time on any pleasantries. "He's headed by himself for the coast. I have some bees keeping an eye on him, but I don't think he'll lead us to anything important. Kurobachi is following his trail back to see if he can find Jiraiya and the brat."

"Good work," Suzumebachi said. "Show me the trail." Jibachi's image dissolved back into a swarm of bees, which began to fly away. Leaping down of the boulder she had been sitting on, Suzumebachi cast one last look back at the town she had been watching for any signs the fugitives were still there. "Worthless place," she muttered, before running rapidly to follow the bees.

Some time later they reached the trail, and Jibachi's bees flew away to rejoin the blond ninja's search swarms. Suzumebachi quickly summoned a few bees of her own and set them to following the scent trail Kurobachi had left. It didn't take long before she found herself entering a small cave, where Kurobachi sat waiting. Suzumebachi's bees began to fly around aimlessly, confused by the sudden multitude of strange scents.

"This is where they split up with the doctor," Kurobachi said. "The two of them are headed northwest across country. I've already told Jibachi, and his swarms are converging there. If we're lucky, we'll find them soon."

"I wouldn't count on luck," Suzumebachi said, "and even if we do find them I'm not certain what to do. Jiraiya seems to be out of our league."

"Perhaps we should request backup?" Kurobachi asked.

"No!" Suzumebachi said. "I explained this back when that arrogant bastard Yamakita gave us this mission in the first place. As soon as the higher-ups know that this is Jiraiya the Toad Hermit and not some Sound spy, they'll probably order us to just watch him. They don't want any trouble with his sort. We'll never get our revenge that way."

"I know," Kurobachi said, "but how will we avenge our clan this way? We can't beat him easily."

Suzumebachi glanced downward. "I don't know," she admitted, as much as it galled her to say it out loud. "We'll just have to watch him for now. I'm going to study grandfather's scrolls some and see whether I can find any techniques that might help." She forced herself to smile. "We can't beat him in a fair fight, but being a ninja isn't about fighting fair. We'll find a way to make him fight on our terms, and then we'll win."

* * *

**Day Twenty-three**

Shimano Ren breathed a sigh of relief as she gently prodded the bandages wrapped around her torso and felt only small amounts of pain. Thanks to the Mist's medical ninja, the burns were healing rapidly, and Ren guessed that she would be completely healed within the next few days. The skillful treatment hadn't stopped the past week from being exceedingly painful, but at least that Sakura girl had weakened the final blow, rather than using a full-strength Claw of the Fire Dragon. Otherwise Ren knew that she would probably still be bedridden, if she hadn't died on the journey back to the Mist's island fortress off the Fire Country's eastern coast.

The thought made Ren rise from her bed. The Mist genin quickly dressed herself, letting out a contented sigh as she tied her forehead protector. She had known why she couldn't wear it on the last mission, but she had felt naked without it. Though the Mist's genin tests were nowhere near as challenging as they had been before the reformation, Ren had still been through a lot to earn her forehead protector. After gathering her ninja tools and weapons - even in a friendly base, it never hurt to be prepared - Ren left her small room and headed for the infirmary for her morning checkup.

Unlike her first few, this morning's inspection was thankfully brief. The overworked medical ninja inspected the wounds, changed her bandages, and gave her much the same list of restrictions and advice as the past few days. The one, and extremely welcome change, was that the medical ninja's opinion was that the bandages could come off for good the next morning. Ren's enthusiasm was apparently too obvious, as the medical ninja reiterated his prohibition on any overly strenuous exercise. "After all," he said, "you wouldn't want to make things worse just when you're almost healed." Ren just nodded, and soon she was sent on her way.

She headed for the mess hall, where she found her two teammates already eating, and after getting some food herself Ren joined them. The other kunoichi on the squad nodded at her as Ren sat down. "Good morning," she said.

"Good morning, Midori," Ren answered.

The third member of the team looked up from his food. "Morning," he grunted in between mouthfuls. Ren just smiled. Saburo had never been a morning person, and likely never would be. He was generally a bit more human once he had gotten a few cups of tea into himself, though. For several minutes there was no conversation as the three genin concentrated on their meals.

"Are you feeling better?" Midori asked Ren as the two girls finished eating.

"Yes," Ren said quietly at she took a sip of water.

Saburo looked up from his food - though he was a faster eater, he had taken a much larger portion than his teammates and still had some left. "Well enough to train?" he asked. "I'm getting tired of just fighting Midori."

The other girl sighed, rolling her eyes. "You have a one track mind, Saburo."

He grunted, then gulped down the last of his breakfast. "I want to be ready for the Chuunin Exam. We want to make a good impression, right?"

"I suppose," Midori admitted. She grinned suddenly. "So, Ren? Saburo's hopeless at seeing through genjutsu, and I need someone competent to practice on."

"Hey!" Saburo protested. "I'm competent! You're just better at that stuff than me."

Ren smiled. "The medical ninja said it would be okay for me to get some light exercise," she said. "Just go easy on me with the taijutsu if we spar, Saburo."

Saburo nodded, standing. "What are we waiting for, then?" The two girls followed him down to the training grounds - a rocky beach that spread out beneath the walls of the fortress. Another genin team was using one side, so they moved to the opposite side of the beach. "So what first?" Saburo asked.

"I need to work on my water control techniques," Midori said, "so you two can do some sparring or whatever. Is that okay, Ren?" Ren nodded, and the other girl walked out onto the relatively calm water. Once she was a few dozen feet off shore, she began to form seals. Soon the water near her was moving at her command.

Saburo was already stretching. "You want to keep this light, right?" he asked.

Ren nodded as she began to warm up. "I shouldn't stretch myself too much today."

"All right," Saburo said. "Let's keep weapons out of this and just move through the basic hand-to-hand forms, then."

Ren nodded again, and soon the two began to spar. Ren was relieved to find that her mostly healed wounds were not impacting her performance much. She slowly began to pick up the pace, eager to get back into shape after a week without practice. Saburo grinned at her as he easily matched her speed. "Can't you go any faster?" he asked.

Ren grinned back at her teammate and sped up some more, but Saburo again matched her. Then he began to move even faster, and Ren was slowly forced to retreat. For an instant, a twinge in her chest distracted her, and one of Saburo's fists darted past her defenses and at her face. There was an explosion of thick black smoke, and Ren hurled herself into the air.

Only briefly startled, Saburo jumped out of the way. Moments later Ren's foot swept through where his head had been. She landed easily, having expected the dodge, and fell back into a defensive stance. Saburo copied her stance, rather than attacking. "No fair pulling out ninjutsu," he complained. "I thought we were just doing taijutsu."

"Sorry," Ren said. "I guess I got carried away."

Saburo just grinned. "Not a problem. But I suppose it's only fair that I get to use ninjutsu too, now." His hands flickered as he summoned replications.

Ren's eyes narrowed and she backed away carefully. Saburo's clones began to circle around her, but where was the real one? Ren grinned as she jumped into the air again, meeting Saburo's aerial attack. Ren plunged her fist into his gut, then her eyes widened as he disappeared in a puff of smoke. As she landed the real Saburo charged out of the circle of vanishing replications. Ren barely managed to block his first attack, but then Saburo lashed out with one foot, sweeping her legs out from under her.

Ren rolled away, and slowly rose. She threw up a hand to ward off Saburo, panting heavily. "Tired already?" Saburo asked.

Ren nodded. "I'm a little out of shape, you realize," she said.

Saburo grinned. "I couldn't tell."

"Thank you," Ren said, "but I certainly could." She prodded her wounds again, relieved to feel no more pain than before the sparring match.

"You think that Leaf girl will be in the exams?" Saburo asked suddenly. "If she could beat you, she might be interesting to fight."

Ren shrugged her shoulders. "I hope so," she said. "I intend to have a rematch myself."

Saburo laughed, glancing out to sea at the third member of their team. "I think Midori wants to have a talk with this Haruno Sakura also," he commented.

Ren grinned at him. "I guess it will be a race, then."

"A little friendly competition won't hurt," Mitarashi Kimi said as she suddenly appeared between the two, "but don't let it get out of hand. Remember you three are a team."

The two genin straightened instantly. "Yes, Mitarashi-sensei," they said in unison.

Kimi nodded, then yelled out at the last member of the team, "Midori! Get over here!"

Midori released the seal she was holding, sending a column of water plunging back into the ocean. She ran back across the surface of the water, stumbling slightly when she reached land. Grimacing at the mistake, she walked over to her teammates.

"We've just received a mission," Kimi said without preamble. "The Leaf are setting up a presence in the Wave Country, and since we have an excuse to be in the area, we're going to check it out on our way to the exams."

"Yes, Mitarashi-sensei," the three genin responded.

"Ren," Kimi said, "will you be all right if we leave tomorrow afternoon?"

Ren nodded. "I'll be fine," she answered.

"Good," Kimi said. "Then that's what we'll do."

* * *

Nara Shikamaru, the Hidden Village of the Leaf's newest chuunin, was not gazing at the clouds. He would very much like to have been, but all his favorite cloud-gazing spots were apparently well known to the three special jounin in charge of the Chuunin Exam and resting in any of those places had become an invitation for one of them to drop by and give him yet another new task, since he clearly had some free time. So instead Shikamaru was resting in a conveniently shaped branch, lazily counting the leaves that hung overhead and blocked his view of the sky. 

Why had he let himself get roped into assisting with the exam? He'd been told it was an honor - that normally only elite chuunin who were qualified to take the Jounin Exams were asked to help run the Chuunin Exam. Shikamaru suspected that rather than any respect for him, he'd been offered the job simply because most of those elites were too busy with real missions to handle the exams, so they were opening up the jobs to lower-ranked chuunin. Still, it said something flattering that the elites who were still participating had asked him, the rookie chuunin, to assist them. That wasn't why he'd accepted, though.

Shikamaru's hand lashed out, crushing a fly that had been buzzing irritatingly around his head. "No," he muttered to himself. "You accepted so you had an excuse to say no when Asuma-sensei asked you for help." After all, it was important to avoid the appearance of partiality, wasn't it? Someone who was involved in the exam couldn't help train one of the teams participating. "Sorry, Chouji," the lazy chuunin apologized to his absent friend, "but there's no way I'm getting in between those two."

"In between who?" a familiar voice called out from the foot of the tree. Shikamaru resisted the urge to groan. Maybe if he ignored her she'd go away.

"I know you're up there, Shikamaru," Ino said. When he didn't respond the kunoichi punched the tree trunk with surprising force. While Shikamaru probably could have stayed put, it was less troublesome to let himself be shaken out, flip around in midair, and land softly in front of Ino. Ino gave him a satisfied smirk. "Now who don't you want to get in between?"

Shikamaru sighed. He might as well get it over with. "You and Sakura," he answered, bracing himself for the outburst he knew was coming.

To his mild surprise, Ino only snorted. "We aren't fighting that badly. At least not during training."

Shikamaru wasn't able to stop himself from giving Ino a disbelieving glance. Fortunately, he had enough control not to say the first thing that came to his mind - that from the way Asuma had complained to him about the two of them, he'd hate to see what Ino would consider "fighting that badly." After a moment too long, Shikamaru spoke. "Is that so?" he said, keeping his voice carefully disinterested. The last thing he wanted was for Ino to realize he didn't believe her.

Ino knew her teammate too well, though, and knew precisely what that tone of voice meant. "All right," Ino admitted, "we aren't getting along that well."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. Now that he hadn't been expecting. It was rather unusual of Ino to not take his skeptical response as a challenge. She must be really worried about something, he decided. He let out a quiet sigh. Why did all these troublesome problems keep on getting dropped in his lap?

Ino seemed to take his sigh as a prompt to keep speaking. "It's not that we're fighting really. We have enough self-control to not do that."

Shikamaru gave Ino another skeptical glance, and she growled at him. "Sorry," Shikamaru muttered, and this thankfully averted her rage.

"It's just that, well, our teamwork is terrible. I don't know what she can do, she doesn't know what I can do, and -"

"And you won't tell each other because you both can't wait to beat each other senseless again in the third exam," Shikamaru finished for her, letting out another sigh. "Your teamwork sucks because you want to compete with each other, not work together."

"I... I guess so," Ino admitted, grimacing. Probably she didn't like the idea that she was just as responsible for the problem as her rival.

"Of course," Shikamaru said, "I don't really see why."

Ino looked like she was about to shout at him, but she restrained herself. "What do you mean?"

Shikamaru sighed yet again. He didn't want to bring this up, but Ino would pester him until he answered. Ultimately it was less troublesome to just tell the truth. "Seems to me that the whole reason you two are fighting isn't really relevant anymore." Still, there was no way he was going to say that name in front of her.

"He will come back!" Ino growled, but her face quickly smoothed. "It isn't about him, you realize," she said quietly.

"Oh?" Shikamaru asked.

"It might have been once, but now it's about her." Ino didn't talk for a long moment, then she stalked past Shikamaru and hit the tree again, hard enough that Shikamaru didn't think he would have had the option of staying put had he still been up there. "Damn it," she muttered. "It's about both of us. I want to prove to her once and for all that she can't beat me." Shikamaru couldn't stop himself from laughing. In an instant, all of Ino's rage was focused on him. "What's so funny?"

"Girls," Shikamaru said, easily dodging the wild punch Ino threw at him in response. "Sometimes I think you all are some different species, and sometimes you're just like boys."

Ino managed to calm herself. "What do you mean?"

"Sakura and you are just like Lee and Neji or Naruto and Sasuke." Shikamaru shook his head sadly as he walked off. "I'm glad I never was like that with anyone. It makes people go out of their way to make things troublesome." He sighed. "I guess I'm too lazy for a rivalry."

"Wait!" Ino called out, and Shikamaru stopped moving. "How am I going out my way to make things troublesome?" she asked, though she seemed to have to force herself to say the last words.

Shikamaru sighed. "You can't fight Sakura until the third exam, right?" he asked. "There's a whole month between the second and third exams, and you might not even fight Sakura in the third exam at all. You certainly won't if you don't make it through the second exam. A lazy person like me wouldn't worry about fighting Sakura at all for now. That's still a long ways off."

Ino seemed to consider his words. "I guess that makes sense. What should I do?"

"Chouji and you should just go ahead and sit down with Sakura and show her your moves," Shikamaru said. "Then ask her to show you hers, and start working on battle plans. That's the least troublesome way to go about it."

"What if she holds something back?" Ino demanded. "Then she'd have a -"

"I said not to worry about that, didn't I?" Shikamaru interrupted. "You'll have a whole month to practice on your own and learn new techniques. She won't be standing still either, I imagine. The third exam is the third exam, not the first. Worry about it later."

Before Ino could respond, a new voice interrupted. "Ah, so this is where you've been hiding, Nara-kun," Mitarashi Anko said, peering down at the two younger ninja from her perch on the tree above. "Genma wants you to help him with the questions for the first exam."

Shikamaru sighed. Another hiding place ruined. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered. Maybe this job was more troublesome than the alternative after all.

Anko gazed curiously for a moment at Ino, then snapped her fingers. "Now I remember you," she said cheerfully. "You're the one who almost lost to Sakura-chan last time!" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at the familiar form of address, even as he carefully backed away from Ino.

The genin glared up at Anko, but with visible effort she stopped herself from exploding at the special jounin. "My name is Yamanaka Ino," she said.

"Whatever," Anko said. "Come on, Nara-kun. You have work to do." She grinned maliciously at him. "I hear Genma wants to go through the past ten years of tests and figure out the standard difficulty level."

Shikamaru wasn't able to restrain a shudder at the thought of the boring work that entailed. He was becoming convinced that he had made serious miscalculation. All things considered it probably would have been easier to be stuck between Ino and Sakura.

* * *

**Day Twenty-four**

Tsunade smiled as she placed the last bit of paperwork for the day into the out tray on her desk. Sure she'd only managed to finish it all this early by deciding to do half of it tomorrow, but tomorrow was tomorrow. Today was today, and she could go drinking now. At least if she could find a bar that would serve her now. Why people seemed to think the Hokage shouldn't get drunk during the day, she'd never figure out. She more than deserved a little rest and relaxation from time to time.

The Hidden Village of the Leaf's Fifth Hokage slowly rose from her desk, pondering how best to leave her office without being detected by Shizune. Somehow, she knew that Shizune would not be pleased with her decision to hold half the paperwork for tomorrow. If Shizune found out she was leaving already, she'd get marched back into her office faster than she could blink. Tsunade grinned. It was a good thing that she hadn't taught Shizune all her tricks.

Before Tsunade could put her plan into action, the door to her office swung open and Shizune walked in. Tsunade's attendant looked at her teacher, looked at the desk, and sighed. "Going somewhere, Tsunade-sama?" she asked dangerously.

Tsunade sighed herself, falling back into her chair. "Of all the luck," she muttered as she she pulled the stack of paperwork she'd been hoping to leave for tomorrow back in front of her.

"Honestly," Shizune said, "you should take this more seriously." Thankfully, she had shut the door behind herself, so the guards outside couldn't hear the scolding.

"Yeah, yeah," Tsunade said as she scrawled her signature beneath yet another budget request. "It's not like I didn't take care of the important stuff. This is just the junk that can wait."

"And if you let it wait you'll forget about it," Shizune said. "Since there will be even more things to see to tomorrow, particularly with the Chuunin Exam coming up."

Tsunade groaned. "Don't remind me," she said. "Is there always this much paperwork involved in one of these things?"

"Well, there's some extra since the Hidden Mist are participating," Shizune answered, "but other than that it seems like the amount of paperwork is pretty constant."

"Gods," Tsunade said, burying her face in her hands, "you mean I'm going to have to deal with this every six months?"

"Cheer up, Tsunade-sama," Shizune said. "There's a lot less work involved when we aren't hosting the exam. Next time it's the Grass's turn."

"Good," Tsunade said. She finished scanning the latest patrol schedules for the northern border and added a couple of changes. Who was the idiot who wanted to assign teams that were planning to participate in the exams to border patrols for the next two weeks? Tsunade sighed as she pushed that paper aside. It was boneheaded mistakes like that which forced her to admit that Shizune was right. She really did have to double-check all these things personally or the whole village would fall apart.

Tsunade pulled out the next piece of paperwork. "So what do you want?" she asked Shizune as her eyes began to travel down the page.

"I finally had a chance to finish the research you asked of me," Shizune answered.

"What - oh, the Haruno. Right." Tsunade set the paper she was reading aside. "Took you long enough," she said.

Shizune made a face. "The archives are a mess. One of the storerooms was hit during the invasion and nobody's sorted through the remains yet."

"You'd need someone with clearance for everything that was in that storeroom," Tsunade commented. "There's not many ninja with that sort of broad clearance, and they're all busy with missions."

"I know," Shizune said. "That's not the only reason why it took so long, though."

"Oh?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"Well, the first thing I did is I went through the clan registries, but I couldn't find anything on the Haruno at first. So I searched through all the clan files in case the Haruno records had been misplaced or they were a branch family that had taken on a new name." Shizune sighed. "That took a while."

"And you found?" Tsunade prompted.

"Nothing," Shizune answered. "There is no Haruno Clan or family in our records. Once I'd figured that out I went over to the personnel records and started a search there. It took another day, but I confirmed that there is only one Haruno registered as a Leaf ninja."

"Sakura-chan," Tsunade said, her eyes narrowing. "She's a first-generation?" Shizune nodded, and Tsunade frowned. That was highly unusual. Most first-generation ninja were either experienced mercenaries who decided to join a village or children from civilian families in the village that were adopted into a clan. There were always a few who managed to get into the academy without a sponsoring clan, but even fewer of those made it through to become active genin without that support. "How'd she get into the academy?"

"Special permission from the village council," Shizune answered, and Tsunade's eyes widened. "A full scholarship was awarded at the Third's request."

"That's unusual," Tsunade said after a moment.

Shizune nodded. "I wasn't able to find the records on the meeting that decision was made at. They were in the wrecked storeroom. I did uncover a record of a rather large stipend paid monthly to a Haruno Amaya, though, and the reasons for it."

"Sakura-chan's mother?" Tsunade guessed.

Shizune nodded. "Haruno Amaya apparently came to the village several months after the Fourth's death, carrying a baby she claimed was her daughter with a Leaf chuunin, one Mitokado Takeru."

"Homura's grandson," Tsunade said quietly, remembering. "Wasn't he -"

"Killed in the Kyuubi's attack," Shizune finished for her. "Amaya's appearance caused a bit of a scandal, since Takeru had been engaged to an Uchiha."

"Even though he was dead?"

"The engagement was being transfered to his younger brother. It was supposed to ally the two clans against the Hyuuga," Shizune explained, "but there was a power struggle going on in the Uchiha and -"

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Enough. The Uchiha - or part of them anyway - were looking for an excuse to break the engagement."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," Shizune said.

"This Haruno Amaya must be a very convincing woman, if she got the village council to accept her claim," Tsunade said. "Homura must have wanted to reject her claim just to make the problem vanish. Sarutobi-sensei would have accepted her, of course, but Koharu would have just deferred to Homura unless there was evidence."

"Takeru's jounin commander, a Yamanaka Inoichi, vouched for Amaya and confirmed that the two had... you know," Shizune said. "And, well, Sakura-chan's hair -"

Tsunade laughed, interrupting her. "I should have remembered that. Poor Takeru-kun." Tsunade smiled sadly. "I wonder if he ever stopped dying his hair."

Shizune just shrugged. "Eventually there was a compromise agreed on. Amaya would not formally claim descent from the Mitokado for her daughter, but she would receive a stipend as Takeru's widow - one rather larger than she would have normally as a fresh chuunin's widow - and Sakura would be admitted into the ninja academy when she was old enough."

Tsunade grinned. "Maybe I should tell Homura that I'm thinking of taking one of his great-grandchildren as an apprentice. It would be fun to see the look on his face when I tell him her name."

Shizune looked at Tsunade disapprovingly. "Anko-chan is rubbing off on you," she said. Then she sighed. "By the terms of the deal, Sakura-chan isn't a Mitokado and the clan hasn't shown any interest in her since then. I doubt Sakura knows of the relation and I wouldn't be surprised if Homura's completely forgotten about the matter."

"I see," Tsunade said. "Well, at least now I know what Sakura-chan's problems are about."

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked.

"Think about it," Tsunade said. "Her mother isn't a ninja; her father died before she could know him. She's the only ninja in her family." Tsunade shook her head. "There's a reason that most of the promising kids from civilian families get adopted. Most parents who aren't ninja themselves can't handle a ninja son or daughter."

"Oh," Shizune said. "That makes sense."

Tsunade sighed. "An intervention from the Hokage would probably not accomplish anything useful here. It really is something Sakura-chan will need to work out herself."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Shizune said.

"Still," Tsunade said, "perhaps Yamanaka Inoichi could do something, since he's involved. He's the father of Shikamaru-kun and Chouji-kun's teammate, right?" Shizune nodded. "I think he's on a mission right now, but he ought to be back soon. Could you maybe have a word with him about this?"

Shizune nodded again. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

* * *

Yuuhi Kurenai smiled softly to herself as she activated a concealment genjutsu. Technically, she was about to cheat a little, but it was only fair. Asuma had a bit of an advantage, since his team was in the village right now. Kurenai's team was still on a mission, and wouldn't be back until a mere handful of days before the exams begun. The thought made her frown briefly. She still wasn't used to those three going off on missions without her. At least this time there were jounin along, even if she would prefer to have been there herself. 

Kurenai shook her head, reminding herself to keep focused. Even a genius at genjutsu like herself could make a mistake if she wasn't clear-headed. Asuma wouldn't be happy if he found out she was spying on his training sessions. However, she needed to make sure she could use the unfortunately limited training time she would have with her team as productively as possible. Anything she could find out about Asuma's team's abilities would be useful.

As she crept closer to the training ground Asuma had reserved she began to ear the sounds of fighting. Backing up against a tree, Kurenai cautiously peeked around the trunk at the melee in progress. Even with a concealment genjutsu active, it never hurt to take more mundane precautions against discovery. Frowning as she realized she couldn't get a good enough view, Kurenai advanced to another tree before stealing another look.

Asuma's students were standing in a circle around him while the bored looking jounin held a bell in one hand. Kurenai nodded to herself. A variation on the infamous bell test seemed a good way to make a new team work on its teamwork. It was good practice for the second exam, besides. Kurenai watched the three genin carefully. Why weren't they attacking while Asuma was holding the bell out like that?

"That was easy," Asuma said. "You won't be able to defend a scroll like that. You only lasted a minute." Kurenai's eyes narrowed. So it was a reverse bell test then, was it? She reexamined the scene from that perspective, then smirked suddenly. Asuma had a little surprise coming.

Asuma's eyes widened as the bell in his hand suddenly vanished. An instant later the image of Sakura faded away, and the jounin laughed. "I see you three are working together more now," he commented. "You two did well to hide that Sakura wasn't really there."

Ino and Chouji grinned at each other as they began to circle around their teacher. Kurenai nodded to herself. It was obvious what the three's strategy had been. They'd given the bell to Sakura, who had used the Perfect Replication Technique to distract Asuma while she'd ran away. Kurenai shook her head. Not many genin had the chakra reserves to use that technique, and from what she'd seen in the last exams Sakura was the last one she'd expect to manage it. Kurenai knew all too well from her own genin years that chakra control only went so far to compensate for low stamina.

Now, where was Sakura? If she'd improved enough to be able to pull off a trick like that, she would be worth taking a look at so Kurenai could prepare her team. There were few things more dangerous than underestimating an opponent, after all. Kurenai carefully searched the trees around her. Sakura had to be nearby if she'd given her fake replication enough of a false substance that Asuma could "steal" the bell from it without noticing anything wrong at first. She'd have to be somewhere where she was able to see Asuma's attacks clearly.

When her quick search turned up nothing, her attention returned to the two genin, and then she was barely able to stop herself from letting out a bark of laughter. It was obvious and simple. Asuma had quickly reached the same conclusion and blurred into motion, grabbing Ino before the kunoichi could react. There was a brief puff of smoke as Sakura's transformation technique was disrupted. Asuma quickly searched the pink-haired kunoichi, then sighed, dropping her. "I assume Ino has the bell," he said ruefully.

Sakura nodded. "She was gone before our head start was over."

Asuma frowned. "I can't imagine Ino would teach you her techniques, and you couldn't learn them so quickly."

"We know that you're fast enough that Ino could never hit you with her techniques. I just formed the last seal and called out the name of the technique." Sakura grinned at the jounin.

Asuma sighed, glancing over at Chouji. "I don't suppose you're Shikamaru? This is the type of plan he would come up with."

"Well, he helped, sort of," Chouji admitted. "It's based on a battle plan he taught Ino and me during the last exam."

"It works better with my genjutsu than a normal replication," Sakura added.

"Well, it's good to see that you three are finally sharing information," Asuma said. Then he groaned. "Now I know why Shikamaru bet two weeks' worth of gate duty that you three would pass the exercise today."

This time Kurenai wasn't able to stop herself from laughing, and as Asuma started she dropped her genjutsu and stepped out from behind the tree. "And to think that you were the one who was always warning me not to make any bets with Shikamaru, Asuma."

Asuma sighed, then looked at Sakura and Chouji. "All right, you two, that's enough for today. Go meet up with Ino and do more of whatever you did to get your teamwork to improve so quickly." The genin nodded and began to walk away as Asuma's attention turned back to Kurenai. "It seemed like a sure bet," he said. "You should have seen those three two days ago. Sakura actually managed to accidentally walk into Ino's Paralysis Technique."

"The Paralysis Technique's a little advanced for a genin," Kurenai commented.

"Ino's been studying her clan's techniques for years," Asuma said. "That technique is similar enough that it wasn't hard for her to pick up." Asuma grinned. "Now stop fishing for information, Kurenai, or I'll report you for illegal spying."

Kurenai shrugged. "I have to do something since my team's still away. You don't know how lucky you are that you and your team had time off together now."

Asuma grimaced. "I suspect it's not entirely luck."

Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"You saw that grin Hokage-sama gave me when I nominated my team, right?" Asuma said. Kurenai nodded. "And I hear Shizune-sama's been asking around about Sakura. Something's up with her, I think."

Kurenai bit at her lip thoughtfully. "I remember Anko-chan saying something about her, actually, before she left on her last mission."

"Mitarashi?" Asuma asked.

Kurenai nodded. "I wish I'd paid more attention, but it was just her usual complaining."

"She seemed to know something about whatever's happening with the Mist, also," Asuma said. He stroked his beard for a moment. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Kurenai smiled. "The usual bar, the day after tomorrow. I'll get Anko-chan there if you're paying."

Asuma groaned, but after a moment he nodded.

* * *

**Day Twenty-five**

Kamizuru Suzumebachi was still not pleased. In fact, she was even less pleased than she had been immediately after her escape from Jiraiya's wrath. The past several days, the three Kamizuru survivors had been following the Toad Hermit's scent, but he had some method of laying false trails. Suzumebachi had lost count of the number of times a strong trail had suddenly ended, forcing the three bee ninja to backtrack for hours until they found a new trail to follow. Once or twice Jiraiya had even set a trap where the false trail ended or the new trail began. It wasn't for nothing he was called one of the legendary Sannin.

"I wish we had another one of those damned bikochuu," Jibachi muttered as he wearily formed seals to replace the bee clone that had been destroyed by the explosive notes Jiraiya had left behind this time. "I bet it wouldn't be fooled by whatever he's doing."

Suzumebachi sighed. "We searched for days, Jibachi, and we only found the one. If we hadn't used it to find grandfather's techniques, we'd still be wandering exiles."

"Well, what good are those techniques doing?" Jibachi snarled back. "Isn't there something in those scrolls that's actually useful?"

"I've been decoding them as quickly as possible, but it's slow work," Suzumebachi said. "However, unless you want to learn just how useful they are, I suggest you not take that tone of voice with me again."

Jibachi looked away. "Sorry," he muttered after a moment. His new replication dissolved into a swarm of bees. "They're going to find Kurobachi and let him know this trail was the fake one."

"Of course," Suzumebachi said, but her mind was on the list of techniques she had been studying every spare moment she could steal away from the search. Jibachi's words rang uncomfortably true. Of the few techniques she could understand, there were none that were immediately useful in this situation. Except one, though she wasn't certain she could pull it off. It required a staggering amount of chakra, more than she thought she had. Still, it was perhaps the only way to catch up with the Toad Hermit.

"Jibachi," she said quietly as she pulled out a small scroll. "I'm not sure how useful I'll be in a fight after this, but I'm sure we'll find Jiraiya." As the other Kamizuru nodded, Suzumebachi bit at her thumb and rapidly unrolled the scroll. As the paper whirled around her she drew her bloody finger across it. "Summoning: World-Devouring Swarm."

Suzumebachi's head spun and for a moment she thought she had fainted. Then she realized that the sudden darkness was due to the carpet of almost man-sized bees that covered the sky overhead. Suzumebachi almost fell over as what little remained of her strength left her, but Jibachi caught her.

"Forgive me, Suzumebachi-sama," the man breathed as he helped her back to her feet, offering his shoulder for her to lean on.

Suzumebachi struggled to clear her head, trying as hard as she could to project the mental "image" of Jiraiya's scent at the bees overhead. Slowly the swarm of oversized insects began to disperse, flying away with impossible speed to scour the wilderness for the fugitive Leaf ninja. From the description of the technique she had read, these bees were smarter than an ordinary bee, capable of distinguishing even minute differences in scent. If Jiraiya was anywhere in the region, they would find him.

A new wave of weakness passed through Suzumebachi, and she shuddered. Damn it. She'd used up far too much chakra. She coughed as Jibachi helped her seat herself on a convenient rock. Her body began to shake uncontrollably. If she didn't get some rest and possibly even medical treatment, she was probably going to die, Suzumebachi realized.

Someone began to clap, very slowly, and Jibachi jumped to his feet. The male Kamizuru's hands raced through seals, his eyes darting rapidly to find the source of the sound. "Very impressive," an unfamiliar voice said, "but it won't help you."

Jibachi snarled as he formed the last seal. Small bees began to pop into existence around him. "Thousand Bee Technique!" The stingers flew at someone Suzumebachi couldn't see from her position, but she heard at least some of them strike home.

A young man walked into her field of vision, casually picking the stingers that had hit from his body. "Poison, huh? You're making me waste chakra," he complained. "It's very vexing."

Jibachi snarled, his hands forming the first seal of another technique. Suzumebachi raised a weak hand to stop him. "If he's a medical ninja," she said weakly, "I might need his help."

"Yes, you do," the man said. "For several reasons. I am Yakushi Kabuto of the Hidden Sound, and we share an enemy in common." He smiled sincerely at Jibachi. "Please stand aside, Kamizuru-sama, and allow me to treat your companion."

Suzumebachi nodded, and Jibachi stepped away. "If you try anything," he growled, "I'll kill you."

Kabuto nodded thoughtfully as he knelt beside Suzumebachi. "I assure you, Kamizuru-sama, my intentions are entirely friendly at this point in time."

"And in the future?" Jibachi asked as the medical ninja laid his hands on Suzumebachi's arm.

"You've almost burnt out your entire chakra circulatory system," Kabuto told Suzumebachi. "You're lucky I was here. Even if you got to a hospital before you died, you would have done irreparable damage to yourself by then." His hands began to hum with energy, and Suzumebachi shuddered as chakra flooded her body, easing pains she hadn't realized were there.

Kabuto looked up from his work. "As for your question, Kamizuru-sama, I prefer not to lie. For the moment, my master has no plans against the Earth Country, but I cannot say that this will not change. It is entirely conceivable that at some point we will find ourselves on opposite sides of a battlefield." He withdrew his hands from Suzumebachi. "That should do it," he told her. "Your own chakra should be able to recover now."

"Thank you," Suzumebachi said. She shook her head to clear it. "You said we shared an enemy."

Kabuto smiled at her, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "You surely know of the rivalry between Orochimaru-sama of the Hidden Sound and Jiraiya-sama the Toad Hermit."

"Yes," Suzumebachi said. "I spoke with Orochimaru of this once, and he was most helpful. He said that he had no desire to aid us directly, though."

"Is that so?" Kabuto asked. "Matters have changed, Kamizuru Suzumebachi-sama." He smiled again, this time dangerously. "You now have something Orochimaru-sama desires. I would prefer to acquire it peacefully, but if I must I shall do so by force."

"You dare," Jibachi growled, but Suzumebachi waved him off.

"Tell us what you offer and what you require," she ordered.

Kabuto nodded. "Your technique is very impressive, but you will find nothing. Jiraiya-sama used summoned toads to lay many scent trails for you to follow, but none of the scents you have found is his. He is nowhere near here. I will tell you where he can be found."

"How do you know?" Jibachi demanded.

"My master knows Jiraiya well," Kabuto said. "I know why he has come to this country, and I have had a team of jounin following him since he left the Fire Country to confirm my master's deduction." Kabuto paused briefly. "You cannot find him on your own. If I cannot help you find him, you need not pay Orochimaru-sama's price."

"And that is?" Suzumebachi asked.

"Orochimaru-sama is a collector of techniques," Kabuto said. "He desires a copy of the rediscovered lost techniques of the Kamizuru Clan."

"Those are the secret techniques of our family!" Jibachi protested. "We cannot -"

"We can," Suzumebachi interrupted as she stood. On the edges of her awareness she could feel the bees she had summoned vanishing as the chakra that fueled their presence in the world ran out. What a useless sacrifice she would have made if this Kabuto had not saved her. Even if Jiraiya had been near, she couldn't maintain the summoning long enough to find him.

"Suzumebachi-sama," Jibachi said quietly. "You mustn't -"

"If selling my grandfather's techniques will avenge our clan, it is a price I am willing to pay," Suzumebachi said. "It is my decision, Jibachi."

"Excellent," Kabuto said. "You are a wise woman indeed." He smiled again. "Now then, please summon your other companion, and I shall tell you all you need to know."

* * *

Yamakita Akira always had to remind himself that this posting was an honor. Iwakuro Hojo was perhaps the single most honored, still-living ninja from the Hidden Rock. He had completed - solo - well over a hundred S-rank missions before he had refused the position of Tsuchikage and gone into retirement. Only one genin team from each graduating class was selected to help guard his estate and train under the legendary master ninja. Each of those genin teams went on to great things, or so it was said. 

Akira wasn't sure why that would be the case. In the months since his team had been assigned the duty, there'd been precious little training. There'd been precious little of anything but mind-numbing shifts at the gates to the estate, for that matter. The closest he had come to be trained by Hojo himself was the glimpses he had caught of Hojo training some of his proteges for the upcoming Jounin Exams. They had been surprisingly educational glimpses, but Akira still didn't see how they made up for missing a year of real missions. Maybe after the Jounin Exams Hojo would have more time for mere genin.

He yawned loudly, drawing a glare from the chuunin in charge of gate duty today. Akira rolled his eyes, glancing at his teammate who stood on the other side of the gate. She rolled her eyes back at him, and Akira was barely able to keep himself from chuckling. The chuunin seemed to notice this, walking over to Akira, certainly about to deliver a blistering speech on proper decorum. It would not be the first time Akira had received such a lecture.

However, the speech was cut off as all three ninja sensed two presences approaching up the trail from the main road. With a glare at Akira promising to expound at length later, the chuunin returned to his own position. Akira straightened as he waited for the the two visitors to round the bend in the trail and come into view. Whoever they were, they weren't hiding their presence, so it wasn't likely that there would be any action. Still, it was the most exciting thing to happen today.

Akira was a little disappointed when the travelers appeared. It was just an old man and a young boy. The boy, likely a foreigner by the color of his hair, was dancing around the older man. "Is this it, Ero-sennin?" he asked loudly.

The man sighed. "I told you not to call me that, Naruto," he said in the tone of one who had said such a thing many times before. "And yes, we're here."

"Finally," Naruto said.

The old man looked up from his companion, seemingly taking in the estate for the first time. "My, my," he said as he stopped in front of the open gate. "That fool Hojo's done well for himself."

The chuunin's face turned purple with rage, and Akira was too shocked to laugh. Who would refer to Iwakuro Hojo in such a manner? When the chuunin had calmed himself, he stepped forward. "State your name and business," he demanded.

The old man smiled. "Go fetch Hojo, boy, and tell him Jiraiya is here to call in some favors."

Akira and his teammate traded a glance. What in the world was going on? "Why you," the chuunin began, reaching for a kunai. In an instant, the old man was standing behind him, planting the chuunin's own weapon on his back. Akira's eyes widened. He hadn't been able to see a thing.

"Girl," the old man said to Akira's teammate. "Will you carry my message to Hojo?"

She nodded nervously. "Yes... Jiraiya-sama," she said slowly and carefully, backing away from the old man. As soon as she was out of Jiraiya's reach, she vanished.

His hand shaking, Akira pulled out a kunai of his own. "I'm not scared of you, old man," he said. "If you try anything funny -"

Jiraiya sighed, releasing the chuunin, who stumbled forward. Jiraiya casually tossed his stolen kunai into the wooden gates. "If I was planning on trying anything, you would never have seen a thing." He sighed. "Honestly, I must have been retired too long. It seems like everyone in Earth Country thinks they can beat Jiraiya the Toad Hermit."

Akira's eyes widened again. Now he remembered that name. The teacher of the Fourth Hokage, who was said to be the only man to have defeated Hojo in combat, had come to Hojo's estate? The chuunin was backing away nervously, and after a moment Akira followed suit. Even if he wasn't telling the truth, this man was dangerous.

Naruto glowered up at Jiraiya. "And you say I always cause trouble, Ero-sennin," he complained.

"Naruto," Jiraiya growled dangerously, but before he could say anything Iwakuro Hojo walked out of the gates, Akira's teammate trailing nervously behind.

"Ero-sennin?" Hojo asked. "The title suits you, Jiraiya."

The Toad Hermit looked the other legendary ninja up and down. "You shaved off your hair," he commented.

Hojo touched his bare scalp. "It looks better than white hair," he said. "I don't use it in any techniques, after all." He returned Jiraiya's measuring glance. "What sort of trouble are you in this time, old fool?" Jiraiya leaned forward, and whispered a single word into Hojo's ear. Whatever the word was Hojo started, staring suddenly at Naruto. "He is?" he asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto, my apprentice," Jiraiya said smoothly, resting his hand atop the boy's head. Naruto squirmed under his hand, but didn't protest.

"You know what I mean," Hojo asked dangerously.

"You're a smart man. You can figure it out," was all Jiraiya said in response.

"I suppose so," Hojo said. "What do you want?"

"I've decided it would do Naruto good to learn some earth element techniques," Jiraiya answered. "We don't have enough time for me to teach them to him, though. You're the best teacher in that field I know."

"How long do you have?" Hojo asked, and Akira started again. Hojo hadn't even frowned at being asked to teach the Rock Village's techniques to what was probably a Leaf ninja. What sort of favors did he owe Jiraiya?

"Probably a month," Jiraiya answered. "Any longer and we'll likely get some troublesome visitors."

"They would strike with both you and I to protect the boy?" Hojo asked incredulously. Akira gave Naruto a long look. The Leaf ninja glanced away, not meeting his gaze. Something weird was going on.

"Probably," Jiraiya answered. "Maybe not directly, but they would attack."

"All right," Hojo said. He glanced back at Akira and his teammate. "It will give me a chance to do some other training I've been meaning to do, also."

Akira grinned, all his worries vanishing instantly. He was finally going to get the training he'd come here for!

* * *

**Day Twenty-six**

"All right," Tsunade said. "Good work capturing that scum, you two. I'll have a talk with the client about the costs of misreporting the abilities of the target to get a cheaper mission rating." Tsunade snorted. "It's one thing if you can't afford it, but a daimyo, even a minor one, can easily pay for a B-rank mission."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Tenten said, glancing at floor.

Neji was barely able to stop himself from smirking at his teammate's uncharacteristic shyness. "In our written report I included some of the bounty notices put out for the target in Stone Country. It may provide some ideas for an appropriate penalty fee."

Tsunade smirked at the Hyuuga prodigy, flipping through the report folder eagerly. "I like the way you think." Her eyes widened suddenly as she found the appropriate page. "Maybe we should just sell this guy to the highest bidder instead. What the hell did a two-bit thug with a couple ninjutsu like him do to warrant that kind of money?"

"As I understand it, the murder of the daughter of Stone Country's highest daimyo," Neji answered.

Tsunade's eyes hardened. "I see," she said quietly. "Perhaps this Gosunkugi might be heading back to Stone Country after all."

"That is your decision, Hokage-sama," Neji said. "Is there anything else?"

Tsunade shook her head. "Gai renominated your team for the Chuunin Exam, so all three of you are suspended from missions until then." She smiled. "Given who your teacher is, I shouldn't need to tell you to train hard. You're dismissed."

After Neji and Tenten left the Hokage's office, Tenten's usual assertive personality returned. "All right then," she said as the left the administrative buildings. "Let's find Lee and get to this."

Neji nodded and without another word turned toward the training grounds. If the third member of their team was anywhere in the village at this time of day, it was most likely there. And indeed, they soon found Lee demolishing a wooden post with repeated kicks.

The taijutsu specialist stopped in mid-kick as his teammates approached. "Neji, Tenten! You're back! How did the mission go?"

Tenten grinned. "Successfully, of course. The thief had some weird ninjutsu, but nothing that could penetrate Neji's defense."

"I wish I'd been there," Rock Lee said. Indeed, he'd been near tears when he had seen his teammates off, unable to join them due to a scheduled medical checkup. Tsunade didn't trust anyone else, even Shizune, to keep an eye out for complications resulting from the experimental surgery Lee had undergone. Because of the Hokage's busy schedule, the checkups were arranged weeks in advance and couldn't be easily rescheduled.

"Since you're training," Neji said, "I assume there weren't any problems?"

Lee shook his head. "Hokage-sama said that everything looked like it had never been injured."

"Well, of course," Tenten said. "It was Tsunade-sama herself that performed the surgery!"

"Is Gai-sensei on a mission?" Neji asked. When Lee nodded, he sighed. "I suppose we'll have to get started ourselves then." He frowned. "I know Hinata-sama's team will be participating in the exams."

"Sakura-san said that she was going to take them again," Lee volunteered.

Tenten frowned. While Neji and surprisingly Lee had been very uncommunicative about the mission to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke, she knew well enough what the outcome had been. "I wonder who the third member of that team will be."

"And the second," Neji said. "I understand that Naruto has left the village on a long mission."

"I'm surprised she found a team without that kid," Tenten said. "He's strong, for sure, and I'd put up with Haruno-san for that, but I wouldn't want her on my team by herself." Lee glowered at her, and Tenten threw up a hand to ward off his protests. "I'm sure she has many admirable qualities, Lee, but she didn't really put up an impressive performance in the last exams."

Neji closed his eyes briefly. "Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino," he announced when they reopened. Seeing his teammate's questioning looks, he explained. "They're missing a member since Shikamaru was promoted. Neither of them did very well in the last exams, so they won't have an easy time finding a third. Sakura-san's the only one from their class who needs a team."

"Yeah, but Haruno and Yamanaka detest each other, don't they?" Tenten asked. When Neji shrugged, she sighed. "Ah well. If that's the team, it won't be much to worry about."

Neji shook his head firmly, and Tenten raised a surprised eyebrow. "Chouji is very strong," he said, and Lee nodded in agreement.

Tenten sighed. "This is more about that mission you two won't talk about, isn't it?" She shook her head. "Even if he's now the strongest genin in his class, he won't make it far with those two weighing him down."

Neji smiled wryly. "People can change themselves, Tenten. While I suspect you may be right, I won't count either of them out until I've seen them myself."

* * *

For a place of its size, the Hidden Village of the Leaf had surprisingly few bars, much to its Hokage's despair. Most ninja, while they did drink when they could, never drank to excess and only drank at all when they knew they did not have missions coming up. Outside of a rare few, ninja fought poorly when drunk or hungover, and that sort of handicap could cost lives on a mission. Given the manpower shortages the village had been suffering, it had been a very lean time for many of the bars - particularly the few that had not stopped giving the Hokage free drinks. 

Despite the small number of bars, there were many categories of these establishments. In the appropriate sections of the village could be found bars that catered to the civilian population. There were bars that did much of their business with travelers and were eagerly anticipating the upcoming Chuunin Exam. Among Leaf ninja, it was well known which bars were frequented by genin old enough to drink, which by chuunin, and which by jounin. Everyone knew about the small, quiet bar across the street from ANBU headquarters, but few not in that exclusive organization had ever gone there outside of a drunken bet.

This bar, while not nearly as feared as that one, was still avoided by many genin and chuunin. Located not far from the ninja academy, it was the bar of choice for everyone with a teaching assignment, from the chuunin academy instructors to the jounin commanders of new genin teams. Even when they had escaped the need for tutelage, few ninja were comfortable with the idea of running into their old academy instructor on a night out. Despite this, the bar did a brisk business - academy instructors were among the few ninja who did not take missions regularly, and many staff meetings at the academy adjourned to the bar as soon as it opened.

It was to this bar that Kurenai had dragged her friend tonight. Anko groaned as Asuma waved the two kunoichi over to his table. "You didn't tell me Sarutobi would be here," Anko complained.

"He's paying," Kurenai said, and her friend's eyes lit up.

"Why didn't you say so?" Anko said as she plopped down into a seat. "I'll have one of everything," she said cheerily.

Asuma's eyebrow twitched as Kurenai seated herself much more gracefully. "You aren't serious, Mitarashi," he said.

Anko laughed. "I have to work with that bastard Ibiki all day," she said, "and I haven't had a good interrogation to work off steam since those two from Sound finally cracked. I feel a burning desire to be the drunkest person in the village." She rolled her eyes. "Besides, with all the times I've had to track down that lazy student of yours for Genma, Sarutobi, you owe me more than a few drinks anyway."

Asuma rolled his eyes. "I'll just get a couple pitchers of beer," he said, standing.

As he lumbered off, Kurenai glanced at Anko. "You're in a good mood tonight," she said dryly. "Usually you would have threatened to make liquor out of his blood by now."

"Free drinks make Mitarashi Anko a happy woman," Anko answered. "Why's he buying, anyway?"

"The idiot made a bet with Shikamaru-kun and has to do two weeks' worth of gate duty for him," Kurenai answered, and Anko winced. "I offered to do a day for him if he took us out."

"And what did I do to deserve this favor?" Anko asked.

"For some strange reason, I like you, Mitarashi Anko," Kurenai said. "I knew you could use a night out since the exams were coming up, anyway."

"You've got that right," Anko said.

Asuma returned, setting down two pitchers of beer. "I'll get glasses," he said, heading off again.

Anko didn't wait, grabbing one of the pitchers and cradling her arms protectively around it. "Mine," she growled at Kurenai. The other kunoichi rolled her eyes, and Anko laughed. She let the pitcher go, but she didn't move it back to the center of the table.

Asuma glanced at it when he returned, but said nothing as he placed three glasses on the table and filled them from the other pitcher. He sighed as he seated himself. "I have a feeling this is going to be an expensive night," he said as he lit a cigarette.

Anko laughed. "You are correct!" she exclaimed. Then she drained the tall glass in a single chug. She belched loudly as she quickly refilled her glass.

Asuma's eyebrow twitched. "You're disgusting."

"Thank you," Anko replied, then she downed half of her new glass.

It was some time later, after Asuma had been forced to purchase another pitcher of beer, that Kurenai asked the first question. "So what have you been up to with the second exam?" she said carefully, judging that enough alcohol was in her friend's system to have completely wiped out her rather weak inhibitions against boasting of just how difficult her exam would be and why.

Anko grimaced, gulping down the little that was left in her glass. "Couldn't tell you even if I was allowed to," she said. "They gave that one to Ibiki. Bastards."

Kurenai's eyes widened. "Which exam are you doing?"

"Third," Anko muttered.

The two full jounin traded glances. There wasn't any point in interrogating Anko about that exam. Of the three, it was the one where the examiner had the least freedom - the conditions and rules were set by treaty. "Ah well," Asuma said. "I was hoping I'd get something useful out of tonight."

Anko laughed. "Sorry, Sarutobi," she said.

Asuma gulped down the rest of his beer. "I've got a good feeling about the exams, though. If Genma's doing the first exam, it shouldn't be too tough. Ibiki couldn't be nearly as bad for the second exam as this psycho here." He gestured at Anko with his empty glass.

"That's what I told 'em," Anko agreed. "I'll probably have to run a whole 'nother tournament to knock the numbers down for the finals."

"So how's that Haruno girl working out with your team?" Kurenai asked Asuma suddenly. She didn't want him to forget the other information they wanted from Anko.

"Just fine," Asuma said, peering suspiciously at Kurenai. "You won't make me spill any secrets." He sighed. "Wish I knew why Hokage-sama was interested in her, though."

Anko laughed. "That's easy. Tsunade-sama wants to take Sakura-chan as an apprentice." She grimaced. "Don't tell anyone I said that."

Kurenai's eyes widened again. "That's surprising," she said.

Asuma frowned thoughtfully. "Well, she has gotten a lot better since the last exams."

"Course she has," Anko agreed, "since she's my student."

There was shocked silence for a moment. Then Asuma and Kurenai shouted "What?" in unison.

"Um, Anko-chan," Kurenai said carefully. "Haruno is Kakashi's student." How drunk was her friend?

Anko waved a hand vaguely. "His too, but Tsunade-sama made him loan her to me for a while. For my last mission."

Now Kurenai could remember what exactly Anko had been complaining about when she'd mentioned Sakura. It had been being stuck having to go on a mission with a "worthless exam washout." Kurenai's eyes narrowed. Clearly Anko's opinion of the girl had changed greatly on that mission, and Kurenai knew her friend was hard to impress. Just how much had the Haruno girl improved? "I see," she said slowly.

"That's not why Tsunade-sama wants her, though. She wanted her even when she still sucked," Anko continued. "See, Tsunade-sama likes, whazzit called, symmetry."

"Symmetry?" Asuma asked.

"The Ky -" Anko caught herself, even in her drunken state. "The Uzumaki brat goes off with that pervert Jiraiya. The Uchiha gets taken by Orochimaru. So, of course, Sakura-chan will get training from Tsunade-sama." Anko glanced at her empty glass, then at the equally drained pitchers. "Only fair," she finished.

Asuma followed Anko's gaze. "I'm not buying any more," he said. Anko pouted, and he grimaced. "Please, Mitarashi, don't make that type of face. It doesn't suit you."

Kurenai sipped at her half-full glass. "So what about that team from the Mist? Have either of you heard anything about it?"

Asuma shook his head. "You sounded like you knew something at that meeting," he prompted Anko.

"Yeah," Anko said. She shook her empty glass, sighing. "Those 'hostile encounters' Tsunade-sama was talking about were my last mission."

"What happened?" Asuma asked curiously.

"Nothing much," Anko said bitterly. "Just found out my fucking sister was working for the Mist and we tried to kill each other. Now she's coming with her team for the exams and I've already been warned to be on my 'best behavior.'"

Asuma looked at Kurenai, who shook her head. "I didn't even know you had a sister, Anko-chan," she commented.

"Yeah?" Anko said. "Well, neither did I." She stood shakily. "I'm going to bed," she announced before staggering off.

Kurenai's gaze followed her friend worriedly. "I should help her get home," she said. "Could you ask Haruno-san about that mission?" She rose.

Asuma nodded. "I'll do that."

* * *

**Day Twenty-seven**

"It figures," Inuzuka Kiba said, "that something like this would happen right before we were about to go home." He wanted to gripe about having to treat every mist that suddenly sprang up - as happened with some regularity in the Wave Country - like an emergency. However, last week there had been that warning to be on the look out for infiltrators from the Hidden Mist.

"Quiet," Aburame Shino stated softly. "In this mist there's no telling where someone might be listening."

Kiba rolled his eyes. "Akamaru would smell them miles away, and even if he didn't Hinata would see them."

The Hyuuga heir was trailing behind the two boys, her eerie white eyes sweeping across the mist-covered coastline. "I am not so certain, Kiba-kun," she whispered. "Something in the mist is making it harder for me to see through it."

"We can assume that this is not just ordinary mist, then," Shino said. "What do you smell, Kiba?"

"Nothing yet," he answered. Akamaru whined softly, and he frowned. "He says that someone who smells like a ninja passed this way, heading for the bridge." Kiba resisted to urge to snort. What kind of crazy people lived in the Wave Country, that they'd name a bridge after Naruto, of all people? He was going to get the story behind that out of the blond kid when they got back.

"The bridge is not our concern," Shino said. "Follow the trail back and let's see if we can find where this person came ashore." Kiba let Akamaru down, and after sniffing around for a few moments the dog set off. The three Leaf genin followed after, carefully using the terrain to hide themselves as much as possible.

Some time later, they stopped behind a boulder on a ridge overlooking a hidden cove. "Akamaru says he smells more people now," Kiba said quietly.

Shino glanced at Hinata and she nodded. The veins around her eyes bulged as she activated her bloodline limit fully. "Three people," she stated softly. "Two girls and a boy, guarding a small boat." She paused. "They're wearing forehead protectors, but I can't make out the symbol." She relaxed, and her eyes returned to their normal state.

"All right," Kiba said, petting Akamaru. "Let's do this thing."

Shino waved for him to be still. "Were they looking this way?" Hinata shook her head, and Shino cautiously peered out from around the boulder. After a moment, his teammates followed suit.

The closest of the three ninja below was a boy with short blue hair, dressed in simple black clothing. He seemed to be working his way through a set of taijutsu forms. He turned, as though to dodge an invisible opponent, and briefly the four diagonal lines of the Hidden Mist were visible on his forehead protector. Shino nodded to himself, gesturing slightly. "Mine."

The two girls were farther away. One, who had short dark hair and wore a blue dress, was standing idly by the boat. She seemed to be the most watchful of the trio, but fortunately her attention was in the other direction right now. Shino tapped Kiba on the shoulder, then pointed at her. "Yours." Kiba nodded.

The other girl, who wore her black hair long and was dressed in a gray sweat suit, was actually standing out in the water. Perhaps she was keeping an eye out for passing ships. Hinata didn't wait for Shino, pointing. "Me?" she asked.

Shino nodded in response. "Remember our orders. They aren't obviously looking for a battle, so give them a chance to surrender. After that, fight to neutralize or delay, not to kill. Kiba, send Akamaru for backup."

"I know all that," Kiba grumbled, but he knelt down beside Akamaru, who nodded once and ran back the way the Leaf ninja had come from. "Fifteen seconds?" he asked, and Shino nodded. Team 8 then split way, finding their own hidden paths down the ridge and too their assigned targets. Precisely fifteen seconds later, the three genin appeared in a blur of motion directly in front of the targets.

Before the Mist ninja can react, Shino spoke. "You are in violation of the sovereign territory of the Wave Country. You have one chance to surrender and explain your presence, or we shall be forced to take action against you."

Shino's target reacted first, falling out of his frozen taijutsu stance and charging the bug user. As he neared a cloud of bugs exploded out from Shino. Almost instantly the Mist ninja changed course, jumping away from the bugs. Shino coolly directed the insects to follow him, forcing the target to dodge again.

"Saburo, you idiot," growled the girl who was facing Kiba, but she drew a kunai sheathed near the slit in her dress anyway. When she made no offensive moves, Kiba cautiously approached. Without Akamaru, many of his strongest techniques were out of the question, but he didn't want to use those in this situation anyway. Instead he quickly formed seals, summoning a handful of replications to distract the girl as he tried to circle behind her.

Out at sea, the other Mist kunoichi stood still staring at Hinata, who had assumed a Gentle Fist fighting stance. The Mist ninja's green eyes flared as her hands inched toward a making a seal. "Your eyes," she said harshly. "You have a bloodline limit?"

Hinata did not answer. Even if her foe could not recognize a Hyuuga when she saw one, she might know the name. There was no point in giving away free information about her abilities. "Please surrender," she said after a moment. A wave briefly lifted the patch of ocean Hinata was standing on, and for a moment she nearly lost her footing.

Her foe's hands blurred into motion. "Suiton: Water Shuriken Technique!" Tiny bullets of water formed out of the sea spray, flying through the air at Hinata.

The Hyuuga heir's stance shifted as they neared. Clearly her opponent had not studied the Hyuuga Clan. "Heavenly Spin," she breathed as she began to whirl about, expelling chakra from every tenketsu in her body. A whirlpool began to form beneath her from the rapid movement and chakra force, but she - barely - kept her footing. When they impacted the twisting wall of chakra, the water shuriken shattered instantly. As soon as the last shuriken vanished, Hinata stopped spinning and charged her opponent.

Back on land, Shino's opponent continued to dodge the cloud of insects following him. Shino himself simply stood still, watching the Mist ninja's efforts carefully. Then his opponent stopped suddenly, his back to the ocean, and rapidly formed seals. The water behind him rose up into a pillar and assumed his shape. The water clone charged the rapidly oncoming bugs. As soon as it entered the center of the storm, the Mist ninja formed another seal and the clone exploded in a blast of water.

The force of the sudden blast sent dead and dying insects flying, and the Mist ninja grinned. "Suicide Water Replication Technique," he said unnecessarily. Two kunai appeared in his hands, and he hurled them at Shino as he charged the bug user. Shino sidestepped the oncoming weapons, and another cloud of insects began to pour out of his body.

Meanwhile, Kiba's opponent looked about, falling back as the replications advanced. For a moment, the real Kiba thought he had evaded her notice, then she suddenly hurled the kunai she was holding behind her, directly at him. Kiba jumped backward, letting his useless replications vanish.

His foe whirled about, one hand forming a curious seal as she charged him. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" she shouted, and tendrils of flame sprouted from her other hand.

Kiba dodged furiously as the flames swept toward him. Well, if she wanted to bring out the serious techniques, he could play that game too. He raced through seals, taking in a deep breath. "Katon: Fireball Technique!" A quick burst of flame spewed from his mouth at the girl, who dropped her own technique and flipped backwards to avoid the blast. She drew another kunai, and Kiba pondered his next move quickly.

At sea, Hinata's charge stopped suddenly as a new presence interposed itself between her and her target. She darted backward, taking a moment to take in the red-clad older woman, who held a curved blade in one hand as she smirked at Hinata. She also wore a Mist forehead protector. "A Hyuuga, huh," she said, almost mockingly.

Hinata backed away several more steps. She hadn't noticed this woman approaching at all. From the ages, she guessed she was the trio of younger ninja's jounin commander, assuming the Mist used the same system as the Leaf's alliance. That meant she was likely seriously outmatched. The woman's smirk widened, and she took another step forward.

Then all the combatants suddenly froze in mid-step. On land, Shino's bugs engulfed his foe, but rather than attacking they simply hovered around the Mist ninja for several seconds, then flew back to disappear inside Shino's coat. Moments later, Nara Shikaku, jounin commander of the Leaf's presence in the Wave Country, stepped out from behind a boulder. All the other ninja, bound by his shadow, awkwardly imitated his actions. The Leaf jounin's eyes went to his opposite number. "Mitarashi Kimi, I presume," he said. Akamaru jumped down from a perch atop his shoulder, racing over to Kiba.

The Mist jounin dissolved into water, and the real her revealed herself, jumping down from a vantage point atop the ridge surrounding the cove. "I seem to be getting famous," she said, smirking slightly.

"I was told that your team might be in the area," Shikamaru's father said. He glanced at the genin. "Getting a head start on the Chuunin Exam?" he asked.

Kimi shrugged. "They were supposed to avoid battle. I'll have a talk with them. Is your team participating, then?"

"I'm just borrowing them," Shikaku said dryly, "but they'll be there."

Kimi smiled. "Since you know about us, you know we have permission to pass through this region."

"I will have to inspect your papers," the Leaf jounin answered.

"Of course," Kimi said, stepping forward and handing him a packet of papers.

All the genin helplessly pantomimed flipping through a sheath of papers. "Everything seems to be in order," Shikaku said, handing the papers back to Kimi. "I suppose in the interests of diplomacy I can consider this all an honest misunderstanding. Less paperwork that way, in any case." His massively extended shadow began to retract itself.

All the genin stumbled briefly as they were suddenly freed from Shikaku's technique. After several moments of carefully backing away from their respective foes, both teams of genin broke away and took up positions behind their commanders. "In order to ensure that there are no further misunderstandings, I will provide your team with an escort to the Leaf Village," Shikaku stated, his tone leaving no room for compromise.

Kimi nodded. "Very well. That is acceptable."

* * *

**Day Twenty-eight**

Kakashi resisted the urge to yawn as Daimyo Chichiatsu of the Swamp Country held court. It wasn't because anyone could see him - he was well-hidden in a secret alcove behind the throne. However, if by coincidence the attack he was waiting for came while he was yawning, he could be a fatal handful of seconds too late intervening. Even if there were other protections in place, Kakashi didn't trust them. If the Hidden Cloud really had been hired to assassinate the daimyo, there would be at least one jounin on the mission. Some of the Swamp Country's native ninja protecting the daimyo called themselves jounin, but there was a difference between a jounin of one of the five great powers and a so-called jounin who got the title because he or she was among the strongest in the Swamp Country.

Kakashi's gaze, as always when he thought of this, went to the kunoichi who was using the transformation technique along with a more mundane disguise to impersonate the daimyo's daughter - the other presumed target, if the goal was indeed to place the daimyo's uncle on the throne. She was supposed to be a jounin, but he wasn't terribly impressed with her abilities. Except for stamina and breadth of techniques, she had little to recommend herself over Sakura. Most importantly, he had no doubts as to Sakura's loyalties. He'd been told over and over by the daimyo's men that her loyalty was beyond reproach, but her position had her far too close to the daimyo. If it hadn't been for the Chuunin Exam, Kakashi might have sent for Sakura to join him already, even though the mission was A-rank.

Kakashi didn't sigh, but he wanted to. He could only hope that this Chuunin Exam didn't go as disastrously as the last one had for his team. He had been surprised and pleased that Team Seven had made it to the third exam preliminaries, but that hadn't been the main point. His objectives had - he had hoped - been achieved. Naruto had learned that he was stronger than he thought was. Sakura had learned that she had become the weakest of the group and that she couldn't just sit back and expect strength as a ninja to come to her on its own. Sasuke... well, since they had made it past the second exam he had thought it likely that he had learned that he was stronger with his team than without it. Even if he hadn't, there would have been time to teach him that lesson, if it hadn't been for Orochimaru.

That had changed everything. He had needed to concentrate on Sasuke. The cursed seal exaggerated his emotional instability, and he needed to be shown that he could be strong without it as quickly as possible. He had done what he could for Naruto, and that had worked out for the best, though not as he had thought. Sakura, he had to admit, he had abandoned. It had made sense at the time. She was not in danger, nor was she preparing for the third exam. Any damage the inattention did could be fixed afterwards. It had seemed to have worked, at first. Sasuke had seemed to be out of danger, and Kakashi had begun to plan how to reforge them as a team again, though his time with them was limited due to the village's problems. Then Itachi had returned to the Leaf Village, and everything had gone to hell.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. Something was off about the next group of petitioners. There were too many and his instincts told him they were prepared for trouble. He pulled up his forehead protector and opened his Sharingan. They were using the transformation technique! Even as the Cloud ninja dropped their disguise and charged the throne, he was interposing himself, slamming a kunai through one enemy's armored jacket and into his heart. "Take the daimyo to safety," Kakashi snarled at the kunoichi behind him. "I'll hold them off." She nodded as she shed her disguise, gesturing to the daimyo's honor guard to follow her out the back way.

Kakashi counted his enemies carefully as he let the Cloud ninja's body fall, drawing another kunai. The real courtiers had already fled, leaving him alone with five enemy ninja. He estimated that they were all new chuunin or high-ranking genin. With the one he had killed, that meant two three-man teams. Normally there would be a jounin in overall command of that sort of force. Where was he hiding?

Then Kakashi had no more time to think, as the Cloud ninja charged. A couple hung back and started to form the seals for lightning element techniques - nothing he hadn't seen before, though. Kakashi snorted. What did the Cloud think, sending kids like this on this sort of mission? He casually threw his kunai through one ninja's neck. The ninja managed to use the replacement technique in time, but it didn't matter. Kakashi had predicted where he would move, and the second kunai struck home.

Another Kakashi appeared right beside the two ninja preparing techniques. The couple started in surprise, before the shadow replication knocked them both out with a single punch each. The remaining two fell back. "He's so fast!" one shouted, panicked. "I couldn't even see him form seals!"

Kakashi snorted. Idiot. He'd prepared the shadow replication in advance. It hadn't even taken fifteen seconds to put an end to this pathetic excuse for an assassination attempt. But where was the jounin? That was when Kakashi heard the sounds of fighting from behind him, where the native kunoichi had taken the daimyo. "Circled around, huh?" he said to himself. Leaving his shadow clone to finish off the last two Cloud ninja here, he whirled about and charged through the half-secret exit behind the throne.

He made his way through the dark passage, and was not surprised to find dead members of the honor guard scattered about. He was pleasantly surprised to find the native kunoichi fighting on apparently equal terms with a Cloud ninja - presumably the jounin in charge of this attack. Daimyo Chichiatsu was hanging back, and Kakashi quietly gestured at him to run back to the throne room. His shadow replication had finished its work by now, and that was probably the safest place. The daimyo gulped nervously but followed orders, and Kakashi stepped forward. "Looks like I'm in time," he commented.

The Cloud jounin jumped away from the Swamp kunoichi. Kakashi gestured for her to stay back. "I'll take care of him," he said. The kunoichi nodded, breathing heavily as she took a step back. "So," he said, "shall we begin?"

The Cloud jounin smiled. "I'm not foolish enough to use a ninjutsu while a Sharingan eye is looking right at me." Kakashi noticed that he also wasn't looking him straight in the eye. A veteran of the war, perhaps?

"So how do you expect to defeat me?" Kakashi asked. His hand formed a seal. "I suffer no such limitations."

"Like this," the kunoichi said as she placed a kunai at Kakashi's neck.

Kakashi's normal eye glanced backward. "A traitor, huh?"

She smiled. "No. I am Sinobi Junhime, jounin of the Hidden Cloud, and in command of this mission."

"You could have killed the daimyo long before I got here," Kakashi commented.

"Well, once we found out that the Leaf were foolish enough to send the famous copy ninja Sharingan Kakashi on this mission alone, we had to up the ranking to an S-rank and change the mission a little bit," Junhime explained, and Kakashi could feel her smile.

Kakashi sighed. "Following in Sinobi Gashir's footsteps, I see," he said, remembering the Cloud ninja who had died attempting to kidnap Hyuuga Hinata.

"I plan to succeed in my mission," Junhime said, "to capture the Sharingan eye."

"You sacrificed a lot of men to get me in this position," Kakashi said. "Are you sure it was worth it?"

The other Cloud jounin laughed. "Those were just some of the pathetic Swamp Country ninja. The daimyo was more than willing to sell you out to have the assassination mission called off." He smiled. "The rest of our team is right here." Six more Cloud ninja emerged from the shadows, weapons at ready. Strong chuunin, Kakashi guessed. That made two three-man squads, each with a jounin commander. At least the Cloud remembered his power enough to send an appropriate force. It made him feel a little better.

"So, will you come along quietly?" Junhime asked. "If you cooperate, the Cloud might be willing to make a prisoner exchange with the Leaf once we have what we want from you." Kakashi snorted, vanishing in a puff of smoke. "Shadow replication," Junhime snarled. "Where is he?"

"Over here," Kakashi said from behind her. He shook his head sadly as he watched the chuunin begin to form seals. "I'll give you the honor of seeing my only original technique," he said, hands blurring. "Ordinarily," he continued as he concentrated chakra in one hand, "I call it Chidori, but in this situation it seems appropriate to use the name it was given the last time the Leaf fought the Cloud." The enemy ninja began to back away as his hand began to glow, a sound like birds chirping ringing in their ears. "Raikiri!"

* * *

"Are you satisfied?" Yakushi Kabuto asked. "Jiraiya-sama would never let Naruto-kun out of his reach." 

Kamizuru Suzumebachi nodded reluctantly. She would never have thought to look at Iwakuro Hojo's estate, but there was the blond kid, clearly visible down in one of the training grounds, practicing some sort of earth element technique.

"That's it," Jibachi said nervously. "If the Toad Hermit has made common cause with Hojo-sama, we'll be getting orders to call off the search any time now."

Kurobachi nodded. "What do we do, Suzumebachi?" he asked.

"I don't know," the kunoichi said softly. "It seems like I would have to put our clan's restoration aside if I wish to avenge it."

Kabuto smiled as though at some private jest. "Irregardless of your decision, Suzumebachi-sama, I have fulfilled my end of the deal."

Suzumebachi nodded. "I will prepare a copy," she said. "Orochimaru will have our techniques."

"Excellent," Kabuto said. "Please do so before you take any action. I would prefer not to have to steal the original scroll from Jiraiya-sama once he takes it off your corpse."

"You," Jibachi growled, stalking toward the Sound ninja. There was a blur of motion, and three figures in the gray uniform of the Hidden Sound appeared between him and Kabuto.

Kabuto shook his head sadly. "You are truly foolish, Jibachi-san."

"Enough, Jibachi," she said. "Fighting them will accomplish nothing."

"You remain a wise woman, Suzumebachi-sama," Kabuto said with a smile. "I am curious. Do you plan to take on Jiraiya-sama, even though it will result in your clan being exiled again?"

Jibachi and Kurobachi traded a look. "Suzumebachi?" they said almost in unison. They could not make this decision.

Suzumebachi clenched and unclenched her fists. "I will," she said softly, "if I can find a plan that will work."

Kabuto sighed quietly, then pushed his glasses up on his nose. "I have a plan," he said. "I can help you in this task."

"And what is your price this time?" Jibachi demanded angrily.

"Simple," Kabuto answered. "When the deed is done, you return with me to the Rice Field Country." He smiled at Suzumebachi. "The Kamizuru Clan can be as easily resurrected in the Hidden Sound as in the Hidden Rock." He smiled. "Orochimaru-sama would appreciate your

help against the Aburame."

Suzumebachi nodded. "Very well." She smiled grimly. "If I must betray my country, I might as well go all the way."

Kabuto nodded, then turned to the Sound jounin who had been silently watching the conversation. "I will need you to acquire the ingredients we spoke of earlier," he told them, and they vanished. "Now then," he told the Kamizuru, "I shall speak of the roles you are to play in my plan."

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings 

1) Well, that was a little shorter than and a little different from the other chapters. It was a nice change of pace for me though, and it was better than the alternative for covering the week - another chapter of Naruto and Jiraiya traveling while dodging enemy ninja and spoiling all the stuff Team InoSakuChou is working on for the Chuunin Exam.

2) Mea culpa: I didn't double-check the names of the bee trio ninja and got Jibachi's wrong last chapter. It's now been fixed.

3) As always, any and all comments are vastly appreciated. More comments means more inspiration to write which means faster, better chapters, so it's in your interest too. :)

4) So, you may have noticed I've been incorporating filler arcs to some degree into this story. Right now, we've got the Rice Field arc included as canon (for reasons that shall eventually become clear), characters from the bikochuu arc playing a major role, and minor references to the Curry of Life arc (that one's a little subtle) and the Stone Country arc. Nothing yet from the Mizuki arc or the current Bird Country arc, but we'll see, I suppose.

5) I decided I might as well add a "next episode preview." So, here we go. Next time: Akatsuki strikes! Naruto takes on the bee three! And, of course, the first part of the Hidden Village of the Leaf's Chuunin Selection Exam!

Draft Started: December 20, 2005

Draft Finished: December 31, 2005

Draft Released: December 31, 2005

Final Released: January 02, 2006


	6. Chapter 5: Strong and Strike

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 5: Strong and Strike

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, baboons.

* * *

**Day Twenty-nine**

Tayuya of the Hidden Sound did not have the correct temperament to be a model prisoner. She hadn't even cooperated with the medics who had seen to it that her legs would heal rather than be paralyzed for life. To the guards, she did her best to be a living nightmare. Every other sentence to leave her mouth was an insult to their manhood - or when the occasion demanded, womanhood. It galled her terribly, though, that no one seemed to care.

It was probably the masks, she decided. It made it easier for them to hide their reactions. She couldn't see mouths tighten or eyes flare with anger. It was nice to image that behind their masks the ANBU guards reacted to her profanity-strewn insults. It made her feel a little better about how she had sung like a songbird when the Leaf torturers were through with her. She had been told it would happen in training, of course - every ninja in every country was told that if the enemy held you for long enough you would say anything to make the pain stop. She had used the appropriate mental techniques to resist the interrogation and hide at least a little, but there was a limit to how much could be hidden without inviting worse torture.

Surprisingly, though, the Leaf ANBU she was the most scared of was the only one who reacted to her insults - if only by returning them a hundredfold. It should have made the woman who ironically wore a serpent mask more human, weaker - an elementary mistake of a novice interrogator. That was what Tayuya had thought at first. It had been the day they had brought in a sealing expert to add another seal around her cursed seal when her opinion had changed. She had sneered after the extreme pain of the sealing had passed and they had explained the seal to her.

"What good will it do you fuckers?" she had asked. "You say the power of this seal relies on my own will? Why would I want to restrain Orochimaru-sama's gift to me?"

The sealing expert had been about to reply when the serpent-masked woman had waved him off. "Let me handle this," she had said, and after a few moments of whispered conferencing the other guards had left the room.

Tayuya had straightened, pulling against the chains that suspended her in the center of the room. "Sure you can handle me by yourself?" she had asked. Channeling the tiny amounts of chakra she had dredged up over the weeks of torture she had released her seal, smiling as power had flowed through her as the dark lines spread over her skin. Ignoring the pain the filled her body, she had struggled against the chains.

"That won't work," the ANBU woman had said. "Those chains have been tested against Orochimaru's Heaven Seal. Your seal won't give you enough power." Tayuya had snarled at the woman, wishing she could muster the chakra to jumpstart a full transformation. The woman had only shook her her head sadly, walking forward to stand directly in front of her. "Before we transfer you to permanent holding," she had said, "one of our Hyuuga colleagues will close your last tenketsu. If you don't restrain it, your cursed seal will eventually consume your body trying to activate." The woman had paused, perhaps smiling. "It will feel a little like this." She had slowly, deliberately formed a sequence of seals that Tayuya recognized far too well, then placed her hand gently on the back of Tayuya's neck.

Tayuya's world had exploded into pain. When she could see again, she had hung weakly in the chains. "How did you know -" she had asked.

"You are not the first ninja with a cursed seal Orochimaru has sacrificed to the Leaf," the woman had said, her voice harsh. "I am the foremost expert on the subject after Orochimaru himself." After that, the serpent-masked woman had not hesitated to use Orochimaru's punishment technique in the torture sessions, and Tayuya had come to fear her.

It had been weeks since the last interrogation though, and she had been transfered to another cell. As promised, every tenketsu in her body was closed regularly, and she had found the need to restrain the cursed seal or suffer unimaginably. Tayuya supposed they had gotten all they needed from her.

There were footsteps outside her cell, and Tayuya looked up curiously. "It isn't time for more pigfeed," she commented. Then she saw the serpent mask in the back of the cluster of ANBU guards, and she stilled her tongue. The cell door was opened and her hands were bound behind her. Tayuya didn't resist. It was futile, after all, with no chakra and no cursed seal.

"I don't have anything more to tell you," she protested as she was taken to the torture chamber, undressed, and again suspended by the chains. She hated the tremor of weakness in her voice, and silently cursed herself.

An unmasked woman in a dark kimono she hadn't seen before entered the room, waving all the guards except for the serpent woman out of the room and setting down a number of scrolls on the wooden table in one corner. "This isn't interrogation, Tayuya-san," she had said quietly. "This is medical research." She held out a hand, and the serpent-masked ANBU handed her a scalpel.

"Research?" Tayuya had asked uncertainly as the woman moved behind her. She winced as the woman drew her scalpel across the cursed seal on the back of her neck. Blood began to flow freely flow the wound, and the woman began to trace crimson characters down her bare back.

"Give me scroll eighteen," the woman said to the ANBU kunoichi, ignoring Tayuya's question. "I think by using blood from the site of the cursed seal we might improve the blocking effect."

"Of course, Shizune-sempai," the ANBU said coldly, unrolling a scroll and handing it to the other woman.

Shizune unrolled the scroll, taking more blood from Tayuya and dripping it on the paper. Then she formed seals. Tayuya screamed as the bloody characters on her back crawled up into the wound. Her flesh hissed as the cut sealed itself. Shizune nodded and the serpent woman stepped forward, forming that familiar set of seals. The ANBU placed her hand on top of the cursed seal, and Tayuya's world exploded into pain like none she had ever felt before.

* * *

Haruno Sakura was quickly becoming used to having a teacher that showed up on time - and on occasion, even more inconceivably, early - to training sessions. The first early-morning training session had been brutal, as she'd been unconsciously expecting several hours to rest in between the time set for the meeting and when the training actually began. Since then she hadn't made the mistake of staying up too late studying in the library when there was training scheduled for the next morning.

She already hated those nights, though, where she lay awake on her borrowed bed in Naruto's empty apartment At least on the other nights she could lose herself in the intriguing but maddeningly vague technique descriptions that were scattered through the scrolls in the genin library. She had started hoping to find a technique she could teach herself, but she hadn't uncovered any scrolls with that much detail. They weren't useless though; she now had at least some idea what sort of techniques genin from the various allied countries might have access to - valuable information for the second and third exams. Best of all, by the time she dragged herself away from the scrolls and returned to the apartment, she was tired enough that she slept almost instantly.

This morning, Sakura was the first to arrive at the training ground - the same one where she had taken the bell test around a year ago. It seemed like it had been far longer, but when she added up the days and weeks that was what it came to. She felt decades older than that naive, weak girl that had been unable to do anything but faint. That girl had known nothing of real fear, nothing of pain, and as much as she might have protested otherwise, nothing of love and little of friendship.

Sakura set herself to stretching, ignoring the familiar weights on her legs. She had been wearing them almost constantly for several weeks now, and they already seemed a part of her. Occasionally she wondered how fast she might be without them, but for some reason she hesitated to find out. There would be time enough for that in the future.

Someone coughed, and Sakura looked up from her exercises to see Asuma leaning against one of the three wooden posts, lighting a cigarette "Good morning, Asuma-sensei," she said after a moment.

"The others aren't here yet?" the jounin asked. When Sakura nodded, he spoke again. "Well, they still have a few minutes. That works out, since there's something I want to talk to you about."

Sakura frowned, puzzled. "What?" she asked as she stood.

"You went on a mission with Mitarashi Anko, right?" Asuma asked.

"I did," Sakura said with a nod. And if there was any justice in the world, she never would again. That madwoman was scary.

"Kurenai wants me to ask you about that mission," Asuma continued. "Something hit Mitarashi pretty bad about that mission, something about a sister she didn't know she had. You know anything about that?"

Sakura certainly did, but she wasn't certain what she could say. "Umm… we aren't supposed to talk about mission details," she answered after a moment.

Asuma rolled his eyes. "I am a jounin, Sakura-kun. Give me a little credit." He paused, exhaling a puff of smoke. "I know the rules. Kurenai is my friend, though, and Mitarashi is her friend. I'm not asking you to spill any real secrets, but…" He trailed off.

"All right," Sakura said after a moment. "Let me see. It was a diplomatic mission, but it unexpectedly turned out that there was a competing party."

"Mitarashi's sister?" Asuma asked. He guessed that the mission was probably something family-related, then. Otherwise it was too much of a coincidence.

Sakura nodded. "Mitarashi-sensei thought that she died when they were young, but it turned out that she'd survived and become a jounin with the Mist."

"That's about what Kurenai and I gathered," he said. His eyes narrowed slightly. "The sister have any students?"

"One," Sakura admitted after a moment, wondering why this question was relevant.

"You fought her?" Asuma guessed.

"I did." Sakura shook her head a second later. "I don't see why those questions are relevant to helping Mitarashi-sensei."

Asuma sighed. "They aren't really." He let out another puff of smoke. "I shouldn't tell you this, but a favor for a favor. Actually, given the situation it's probably a good idea to tell you to prevent any mishaps. The Hidden Mist are sending a team to the Chuunin Exam."

Sakura blinked. "But the exams are limited to the allied nations, aren't they? We're not at war with the Water Country right now, but they aren't part of the alliance."

"That's right," Asuma said, "but a special exception was made. It happens from time to time."

"And the team that's coming is Mitarashi-sensei's sister's team," Sakura concluded.

"Yes," Asuma said. "So don't panic if you see her or her student in the village." He grinned suddenly. "Did you win your fight?"

"Yes," Sakura said. For a moment she remembered Shimano Ren, lying on the ground unable to rise from the pain of the wounds Sakura's Claw of the Fire Dragon had given her. She pushed the image aside. That was just part of being a ninja.

"Ah," Asuma said. For a long moment, he said nothing, then he asked, "Do you know that -"

Sakura looked around as her teacher cut off, and saw Ino approaching. "Good morning, Forehead," the other girl said cheerfully.

"Good morning," Sakura responded after a moment.

A minute or two later, the third member of the team arrived and Asuma began the training session. "All right," he said, clapping his hands to ensure he had their attention. "We're going to do something a little different this time. I'm going to teach the three of you a technique."

He slowly formed seals, making sure the three genin could catch the sequence. He turned slightly away, taking a deep breath. "Katon: Fireball Technique!" Fire spewed from his mouth, forming a small globe that flew through the air, dissolving away moments before it would have hit a tree trunk.

Ino glanced at Sakura. "Isn't that -" She cut off suddenly, unable to say the name that came to her lips.

Sakura shook her head. "His technique is different," she said. Chouji looked slightly puzzled at the exchange.

Asuma knew enough to guess what they were talking about. "The Uchiha Clan developed a variation on this technique," he said. "The Great Fireball Technique produces more flame, but the range is limited and you have to keep feeding it with more chakra. Of you three, probably only Chouji has the chakra reserves for that one, anyway."

Asuma paused, pulling out and lighting another cigarette "This one is the most basic of the fire element techniques. You concentrate chakra in your throat and mouth, and mold it into fire as it passes your lips. Chouji, you ought to be able to get a pretty good blast out of it." He glanced at Sakura and Ino. "You two don't have the chakra to waste doing a lot of damage with this, but it'll still be useful to force your opponent to back off or change direction."

Ino nodded. "Right."

"All right, then," Asuma said. "If you all caught the seals, get to it. Aim out over the lake, and be careful not to create any fire too far inside your mouth."

On the first try, none of the three genin succesfully produced flame. Sakura slowly moved through the seals a second time, closing her eyes and concentrating as she channeled chakra. This time, a tiny pellet of flame came out of her mouth. Sakura guessed that she hadn't been using enough chakra, and she tried it again, using the same amount she used to start off a Claw of the Fire Dragon. This time, she got a much more respectable fireball, though it dissolved into nothingness a few feet out.

By the time Ino and Chouji had begun to produce recognizable fireballs, Sakura felt she had a good handle on the technique. Asuma had been right - to produce anything big took over half her chakra. Still, she could easily produce enough fire to give an enemy pause, and she could get pretty decent range.

Observing this, Asuma smiled. "I guess you've already learned a fire element technique, Sakura-kun," he commented.

The three genin traded glances, but after a moment Sakura nodded. "We were saving it for a surprise if we needed it in one of your training exercises."

"Which one?" Asuma asked.

"Claw of the Fire Dragon," Sakura answered after a moment.

Asuma looked puzzled for a moment, then nodded. "Ah. Learned it from Mitarashi?" He puffed on his cigarette "Care to demonstrate it?" Sakura complied, and Asuma nodded appreciatively. "I guess you can work on improving the length of the fire," he said. "I know Mitarashi can make them longer."

A few hours later, Sakura had consistently gotten only another inch or two on the claws. Ino and Chouji, however, had successfully mastered the Fireball Technique. As Asuma had predicted, Chouji by far could produce the biggest, strongest blasts. Ino's were a bit more powerful than Sakura's, but of the three Sakura could get the longest range.

"Very good," Asuma said after he had his students demonstrate the technique one more time. He paused to light yet another cigarette "Listen up. The Fireball Technique is one of the most common techniques in the Leaf Village. Most genin learn it in their second or third year. Don't expect to surprise anyone with it, and don't be surprised if someone else uses it. Most of your classmates probably know it already.

"Let's end this early today," Asuma continued. "I need to get some lunch before I have to do Shikamaru's gate shift."

When she left, Sakura noticed that Ino was following her. At first, she ignored the other girl, but as they neared her destination she turned around to face her rival. "What do you want, Ino-pig?" she asked in a weak half-snarl, no real venom in her voice.

"Going to the library, Sakura?" Ino asked. There was a hint of something in her voice that Sakura couldn't place and didn't like.

"Yes," Sakura admitted after a moment. It wasn't like there was anything wrong with that.

"Is that why I haven't seen you anywhere outside of training?" It was worry in Ino's voice, Sakura realized. "Sakura, when was the last time you took a break and did something besides preparing for the exams?"

Sakura's mouth twitched into a weak smile. "What are you, Ino-pig, my new mother?"

"I'm your… teammate," Ino said. Both of them knew but would not acknowledge the word she had almost said instead of teammate. Not now. "Sakura, is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Sakura said, more harshly than she had intended. Even as the words let her mouth she knew that the tone of her voice carried an opposite message from her words. "I don't have time to waste if I want to be ready for the exams." It was true, but Sakura knew that it was a transparent excuse.

Ino's eyes narrowed. "I don't know or want to know what's going on in the giant forehead of yours, but if you think I'm going to let you burn yourself out before the exams you should think again." Once again, it was a true statement, but it was just as bad as Sakura's excuse at concealing her true feelings. "Are you going home to rest, or am I going to be forced to beat you up and drag you home?"

"I'd like to see you try," Sakura growled. Then she sighed. "Fine, I'll rest."

It was almost an hour later, as she started her reduced shift at her family's flower shop, that Ino realized her rival had not headed toward her house when they parted ways.

* * *

Unusually, Uzumaki Naruto picked at his food, rather than scarfing it down as quickly as possible. He could feel the hostile gazes that surrounded him, and while he knew that they had only to do with the Leaf forehead protector he wore, they were far too similar to the hateful glares of his childhood. He had started to come to meals late, to avoid interacting with the Rock ninja as much as possible. The handful he knew personally weren't that bad, he supposed, but the bulk of the ninja staying at Iwakuro Hojo's estate saw only a foreign ninja, from the village that had long thwarted the Rock's efforts to dominate the small countries between the Earth and Fire Countries.

Now that he was staying in one place and had time to think without worrying about being attacked, Naruto was starting to get homesick. If he remembered correctly - and he was fairly certain he did, as he'd been marking off the days and weeks on his calender back home - the Chuunin Exams ought to be starting soon. For a moment, he felt a burst of sharp annoyance that he wouldn't be able to participate. If it hadn't been for that whole invasion thing, he could be a chuunin already, he thought. Now he was missing his next chance. Still, he knew the reasons and he knew they were wise.

A shadow fell over him, and Naruto started. He looked up into the harsh face of Iwakuro Hojo himself. For a long moment the two stared into each others' eyes, then Hojo seated himself besides the much younger ninja. The room seemed to hush instantly, almost all eyes turning to the unlikely pair. Hojo gave an irritated wave, and the sounds of conversation resumed, though they sounded more than a little forced.

"You look unhappy," Hojo commented, as though he were simply stating that water was wet or fire hot. The old ninja's eyes were a hard, flinty gray, and there was not a trace of sympathy in them. The legendary Rock ninja was certainly not trying to cheer Naruto up.

"Yes," Naruto admitted. "I miss my home and friends." In the back of his mind, he wondered who was about to take the exams. Hadn't Jiraiya said that they'd be here for about a month? Maybe he'd be able to convince his teacher to head back to the Leaf Village to see the third exam.

"You should be more concerned with your training," Hojo said flatly. "You have the dubious distinction of being among the least talented students I've ever had to teach the basic earth element techniques." Naruto glowered at this, and Hojo sighed. "Or perhaps I have been assuming you were more advanced than you are, since you were Jiraiya's student. What elemental techniques have you learned?"

Naruto blinked. "None," he said after a moment.

Hojo rubbed his forehead, closing his eyes in exasperation. "Jiraiya, you fool, I'm an advanced tutor, not an academy teacher," he muttered to himself. He opened his eyes again. "All right. Let's start from the beginning. You know what the five major schools of elemental techniques are?"

Naruto nodded. "Fire, Earth, Water," he listed, then paused for a moment. "Wind," he added. "And… Lightning!" The Leaf genin grinned proudly. And Sakura always said he could never remember anything.

Hojo stared at him. "Surprising. You actually do know something." He smiled coldly. "What else do you know?"

Naruto tried to come up with something, but his mind was blank. "Not… very much," he admitted quietly.

Hojo sighed. "You have gone to a ninja academy, right?" he asked.

Naruto laughed, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Yes, but it was boring." Sometimes, at times like this, Naruto wondered whether it might actually have been a good idea to listen to at least a few of the lectures.

Hojo shook his head. "How in the world did an idiot like you become the Toad Hermit's apprentice?" The legendary ninja gazed at Naruto, and the young genin realized that the question was not intended as rhetorical.

Before he could even begin to consider how to answer the question, the Toad Hermit himself appeared, laying his hand on his student's shoulder. "Are you looking for hints, Hojo?" he asked quietly. "You know what you need to know about Naruto, I'm sure."

Hojo rose. "Ah, Jiraiya. I was looking for you earlier, but you were detained."

"Oh?" Jiraiya asked. "You should have known that I would have been happy to make time for my host."

"I have no sympathy for your research," Hojo said dryly. "I preferred to wait for those kunoichi to finish with you."

Naruto grimaced, and Jiraiya laughed. "What did you want?" he asked seriously.

"I finally managed to mostly settle that mess your entry into this country caused," Hojo said. "There are no longer official orders for your capture or death."

"That's a relief," Jiraiya said.

"The messengers haven't been able to find those Kamizuru, though," Hojo said. "They're probably still looking for you." The Rock ninja snorted. "You must be getting old, Jiraiya. Those three shouldn't have been able to cause you that much trouble."

"I underestimated the first one and his poison," Jiraiya said. "Beyond that, I was trying to get here without having to kill anyone. That made things more difficult."

"What, you didn't want to finish your masterpiece?" Hojo asked, a dark undercurrent in his voice. All the Rock ninja in the room were watching the two converse, and neither seemed to notice.

"That's enough, Hojo," Jiraiya said quietly. "If you want to talk about that, let's do it in private."

Hojo seemed to realize for the first time in a while where he was, and he straightened himself. "No need," he said. He glanced down at Naruto. "In any case, boy, I expect you to begin to arrive an hour early for the training sessions."

Naruto resisted the urge to protest and nodded. With a nod of his own, Hojo walked off. Jiraiya seated himself in the seat the Rock ninja had recently vacated. "Naruto," he said softly. "I should have mentioned this before, but it's important to remember that these ninja aren't allies. Don't tell anyone, even Hojo or those three you're training with, anything important. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes," he said.

"Good." Jiraiya stood. "Also," he said quietly, his lips barely moving, "don't use the Rasengan." When Naruto nodded slightly even though he looked puzzled, Jiraiya turned to leave.

"Hey, wait a minute, Ero-sennin!" Naruto said suddenly. When Jiraiya stopped, he continued. "Do you think maybe I could write a letter to Sakura-chan?"

Jiraiya rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I ought to put together a report for Tsunade, I suppose." He pondered a moment later. "All right, but I'm going to have to read it first, boy."

Naruto nodded and returned to his meal with new vigor, eager to start writing.

* * *

**Day Thirty**

"Come on, Leaf boy," Yamakita Akira said challengingly. "What are you, chicken?"

Akira's male teammate, Gonkuro, sighed in annoyance. "We're supposed to be training, not fighting," he said coldly.

Mako, the third member of the team of Rock genin, grinned, her purple eyes coming alight. "I want to see Akira-kun and Leaf boy fight."

Naruto was long since tired of the name Akira had given him during their very first training session together, but he did his best to ignore the trio. Instead, he was trying - and failing - to get his chakra to flow through the stony ground he was squatting on. When he placed his hands on the ground, he could channel a bit through the earth, but once his chakra was more than a foot or so outside his body it dissipated.

"Hojo-sama wanted us to keep practicing," Gonkuro repeated. Iwakuro Hojo has left the four genin in one of the several training grounds outside his estate while he went to train with some of his other students. Naruto was glad for this, for there was a disturbing look in Hojo's eyes whenever the master ninja studied him.

"What better way to practice than trying the techniques out in sparring?" Akira said. "Well, Leaf boy?"

Naruto glared at Akira. "Fine," he growled. "Maybe once I've beaten you up you'll shut up."

"Ooh, I'm scared," Akira said. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

"This is idiocy," Gonkuro said. "Naruto-kun is Hojo-sama's guest, Akira."

Akira grinned. "It's just a friendly spar, isn't it?" Behind him, Mako nodded.

Gonkuro glanced at Naruto. "You don't have to do this, Naruto-kun," he said quietly.

Naruto opened his mouth, then with visible effort he restrained himself. As much as he felt the urge to pound on Akira until he felt better, he remembered Jiraiya's numerous warnings. "I shouldn't," he said after a moment.

Akira laughed. "Scaredy-cat." Naruto clenched his fists tightly, but he didn't respond.

"Actually," a new voice said. "Akira-kun is right in some respects." All four genin turned to face Hojo, who had appeared perched on top of a large boulder. "Sparring is a good way to test mastery of techniques." Akira grinned widely, but his smile faded as Hojo gave him a cold stare. "Antagonizing a guest to force a fight, however, is not." Gonkuro gave Akira a triumphant glare, and the other ninja stuck out his tongue. Mako just giggled.

Hojo smiled. "You will spar now, but you will do it in a useful fashion. It will be two on two."

"I'm with Akira-kun!" Mako declared.

Gonkuro nodded. "Fine," he said. He glanced at the Leaf ninja. "If that's all right with you, Naruto-kun." Naruto just nodded. Gonkuro might be a bit cold, but at least he wasn't deliberately annoying like Akira.

Hojo nodded also. "Very well. The rules are simple. No killing strikes. No genjutsu." The legendary Rock ninja snorted. "Not that any of you have the talent for that. Earth element techniques are the only advanced ninjutsu allowed. When I say the fight is over, it's over. Understand?" All four genin nodded. "Then split into your teams and go to opposite sides of the training ground."

The training ground, encircled by a low chain link fence that served more to mark a boundary than limit access, was a stony field littered with large boulders. It was in between one of these boulders and the fence that Naruto and Gonkuro briefly conferred, planning their course of action. Less than two minutes after that, the match began.

Five minutes later, Hojo shook his head sadly. "You two," he said in a quiet, dangerous voice, "were pathetic."

From her position buried up to her neck in the ground, Mako grinned sheepishly. "I didn't expect Naruto-san to come up from beneath."

Hojo sighed. "Whenever you're fighting an earth element user, that's the first thing you should expect." He glanced at Naruto. "Though I must admit, I wasn't aware you had mastered the Underground Fish Projection already."

Naruto laughed, displaying his bloody hands. "Not very well, but some digging took care of the rest."

Hojo blinked and shook his head. "I see," he said slowly. I suppose you'll be out of training while those heal."

Naruto blinked. "What? I'll be fine in an hour or so," he said, sounding confused.

"Let me see your hands," Hojo demanded harshly. Naruto complied, and the legendary ninja's eyes widened. "I see," he said again, but he didn't elaborate, walking over to where Akira was sitting and groaning. Gonkuro stood over his fallen teammate, grinning. Hojo looked down at Akira. "Akira, you should have realized you were fighting Gonkuro transformed into Naruto much sooner. He is your teammate; you know his fighting style."

"Yes, sir," Akira said sullenly.

"Gonkuro, good work keeping your replication out of the fight while looking natural. I take it you developed the plan, correct?"

The victorious Rock genin shook his head. "Naruto-kun came up with the basic idea," he said quietly.

Hojo glanced back at Naruto. "I see," he said once again, a hint of surprise in his voice. "Perhaps that fool picked his apprentice for a reason."

* * *

Sakura pondered the absurdity of what she was about to do. This had been her home for as long as she could remember, and she had been able to go in and out as she pleased. Now she was mentally running through all her lessons on breaking and entering from the academy, preparing to apply them to her own home. If only she hadn't left her key behind when she'd stormed out of the house after that last fight with her mother, she wouldn't be forced to do this. Then again, going in the main entrance would be too likely to lead to a confrontation with her mother, and that was something she wanted to avoid.

Sakura knew she had several advantages in infiltrating the target - it helped to keep herself focused if she thought of it in such clinical terms. She need not worry about being seen, at least at this stage. All the neighbors knew she lived here and would find nothing odd seeing her in the neighborhood. Sakura knew her mother's habits and knew that if she was careful and quiet, there would be no risk of detection at this time if she could avoid the kitchen. It would be a simple retrieval mission - barely a C-rank, if not a D-rank, had it been an official mission.

After glancing about to make sure she wasn't being observed, Sakura moved to the roof of her home. She carefully made her way over to one side, then dropped to her belly, peering carefully over the side. After verifying that she could see no one through the window below, she turned around and let herself down. Aided by her chakra, her feet glued themselves to the windowsill of her former room. Sakura crouched over, testing the window. It was locked, of course. Keeping the window locked was basic security.

Sakura frowned as she gazed through the clean glass at the lock. She would very much prefer to enter without having to break anything. Around a month ago - it seemed as though it had been a much longer time - the legendary Sannin Jiraiya had stood where she now stood and unlocked the window with a pulse of chakra. Could she replicate that feat? Sakura thought she understood how it might be done, but it would require exceedingly fine control. She smirked slightly. Control was something she had never lacked.

Sakura's hands formed a simple seal to focus her chakra. She then carefully placed one hand on the glass, as close to the simple lock as possible. At her command, chakra began to leak from her fingertips, seeping into the window pane. Sakura jerked her hand away, frowning. The glass was absorbing her chakra, making things difficult. Forming the seal again, Sakura concentrated. She would need to keep a tight focus to penetrate the glass.

This time, her chakra pierced the glass like tiny needles. Nodding to herself, Sakura danced her fingertips across the glass, sending the tiny threads of chakra to ensnare the lock. This done, she slowly moved her hand away. The lock didn't budge, even though Sakura could feel her chakra catching on it. Frowning again, Sakura strengthened and strengthened the chakra flow, until finally the lock opened.

A wave of dizziness passed through her, and Sakura almost tumbled from her perch. She felt incredibly drained, her chakra reserves as low as after a grueling practice session. The scrolls she had read had said that it was draining to use chakra to directly manipulate physical objects, but she had never imagined it would take this much. No wonder she had been able to feel Jiraiya open the lock.

After catching her breath, Sakura opened the window and slipped into her room. She set down the backpack she wore and began to move quickly and silently through the room. First she ransacked her stores of spare ninja equipment. She couldn't take all the weapons in one trip, but the explosive tags were expensive to replace. Then she moved to her closet, retrieving several of her favorite red dresses. She might not be able to wear them right now, but once she could take the weights off she wanted to be able to wear them again. After a moment's thought, she also took a heavier jacket of the same color. It was already beginning to get a little chilly for the green light jacket she was wearing over her mesh shirt, and it would only get colder as fall turned into winter.

The jacket was, like her usual dresses, a piece of clothing she had gotten from her mother. For a moment, Sakura's eyes watered, then she stuffed the jacket into her pack and returned to her work. Spare underwear was one of the things she most needed, and she almost cleaned out that drawer of her wardrobe. A few of her books and scrolls went next, and Sakura decided she was done. Closing the pack and picking it up, she made her way back over to the window.

Sakura realized a moment too late that someone was watching from the rooftop of the next house over. "Paralysis Technique!" a far-too-familiar voice called out, and Sakura froze. A moment later, Ino landed on the windowsill.

"All right," Ino said in a satisfied tone. "What exactly is going - Sakura!" The other kunoichi's eyes widened. "Sorry," she muttered, her hands forming a quick seal. She laid one hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Release!" Sakura twitched as control returned to her muscles. "I thought someone was breaking in to your room," Ino said in apology, though there was more than a little question in her voice.

Sakura's mouth curled into a weak smile. "I am," she said. Before Ino could ask a question, Sakura placed a finger over her lips. "I'll explain later," she said grudgingly. There was no way Ino would let her off without an explanation. "Come with me."

A moment later, they were on the street below, and after making sure they hadn't attracted any unwanted attention, Sakura set off. "Where are you going?" Ino asked as she followed.

"Naruto's apartment," Sakura said shortly. "I've been living there," she admitted a moment later.

Ino's eyes widened. "Are you," she began, disbelief in her voice.

"No!" Sakura said, shocked at her rival's question. "Of course not." Her eyes flicked downwards. "I've been having problems with my mom," she said. "Naruto's gone, and I have a key to his apartment, so it was convenient."

"You could have stayed with me," Ino said. Sakura gave her a sideways glance, and after a moment she chuckled weakly. "Okay, maybe it wouldn't have been a good idea."

"You have that right, Ino-pig," Sakura muttered. Then she suddenly stumbled, almost collapsing.

"Sakura!" Ino caught her rival. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Sakura said as she straightened. "I had to open the window lock with chakra, and I guess it took more out of me than I thought." She swayed momentarily as she she glanced about and saw that they had reached the Ichiraku ramen stand. "Let's go get something to eat," she said. "I'll be fine once I get something to eat. It's almost lunchtime, anyway."

"Sakura-chan!" the owner called out as the the two kunoichi entered. "You want your usual?"

Sakura nodded, seating herself and setting her bag down. She hadn't had much time for shopping or cooking lately, so she'd been eating here almost every day. It was close to the apartment, cheap, and - for the price - good, so long as one had a taste for ramen. "That'll be great, Teuchi-san," she answered.

"And for you, young lady?" the owner asked Ino as his daughter busied herself preparing Sakura's meal. Ino ordered, and a few moments later the pair's food was ready. Ino grimaced as she began to eat. "You know I'm not much of a ramen eater, Forehead," she commented.

Sakura smiled. "You're lucky you weren't on a team with Naruto, then."

Ino shuddered at the thought. "So, talk, Sakura," she said seriously. "What's going on?"

"My mother didn't want me to take the Chuunin Exam." Sakura sighed. "She grounded me, but I had to leave on a mission the next morning."

"So?" Ino asked.

"She wanted me to refuse the mission," Sakura explained.

Ino blinked. "That's crazy."

Sakura nodded. "I tried to explain, but she wouldn't listen. So, she kicked me out."

Ino rubbed at her forehead, picking absently at her ramen. "When my father gets back from his mission, I can talk to him," she offered. "He's friends with your mother and might be able to explain."

Sakura shook her head. "Thank you," she said after a moment, "but this between my mother and me. I don't want anyone else to get involved." She knew that if her mother didn't repent on her own, they would just have this same fight again and again. If other people got involved, her mother might back down to avoid trouble, but it wouldn't solve the underlying problem. "Please don't tell anyone, Ino," Sakura continued. "This is my problem, and I'll handle it myself."

After a long moment, Ino nodded. "All right," she said dubiously. "I guess so."

* * *

**Day Thirty-one**

Naruto did not like his private training sessions with Iwakuro Hojo very much. Hojo was a harsh teacher and had little patience when Naruto did not understand something he explained. This was not why Naruto disliked these sessions, though. The master ninja seemed to be constantly testing him, not just as a teacher tests a student, but as though he was looking for something very specific in Naruto. Though this probing did not stop entirely after the one hour period Hojo had Naruto to himself, it certainly became less flagrant once the three Rock genin Hojo was also tutoring arrived.

Right now, Hojo stood about twenty feet away from Naruto, whirling a heavy metal staff about himself like it weighed nothing at all. The boulder-strewn field that lay between the two was littered with several fresh craters. All of them had been created when Hojo's weapon had hit the ground. Naruto wiped the sweat from his forehead carefully. One hit like that and he was finished.

"Scared, boy?" Hojo asked mockingly. "I'm only using half my strength."

Naruto snorted. "That's half your strength? Tsunade-baachan can make bigger craters with a tenth her strength, and she doesn't need to use a weapon."

Hojo blinked, his staff's motion stopping suddenly. "Tsunade-baachan?" he asked disbelievingly. "Does Tsunade-hime know you call her that when she isn't around?"

"Of course," Naruto said with a laugh. "I call her that when she is around."

"Do I want to know what you call Orochimaru?" Hojo asked.

Now Naruto blinked. "I call him Orochimaru," he said. "What else would I call him?"

Hojo sighed. "You're certainly a unique fellow," he commented as he brought his staff back to a ready position. "Now, come!"

Instantly, Naruto charged. As he neared, Hojo thrust out with his staff, slamming one end into Naruto's chest. The small boulder Naruto used for the replacement technique shattered under the force of the strike. Hojo wasn't surprised by this, his staff moving inhumanly swiftly to swing at Naruto. The Leaf genin danced out of the way of the strike, circling around behind Hojo.

Hojo smiled, though the boy couldn't see. "Not good enough," he commented as his weapon reversed directions. This time the swing caught Naruto in the side, and even though Hojo pulled the blow Naruto went flying back almost a dozen feet to slam into a large boulder. It took Naruto several moments to rise, and when he did he staggered slightly.

"Did I break anything?" Hojo asked. Naruto shook his head, and Hojo nodded. "Good. What's not good is your performance. Even if I just limit myself to taijutsu using my staff, just charging in blindly isn't going to let you land a hit on me. You need to use strategy, boy."

Naruto grinned weakly. "Is that so?" he asked. Hojo's eyes widened, and as though this was a signal a half-dozen shadow clones, fists already extended for an uppercut, burst from the earth around the legendary ninja. However, before any of them could land a blow, Hojo's staff swung about in two half-circles, easily disrupting the clones.

"Still not good eno -" Hojo cut off suddenly, jumping backward as a seventh clone sprung from the earth from directly beneath him. The clone's leg swept out at Hojo's feet, but he jumped again, poking forward with his staff to disrupt the last clone.

Then the real Naruto came in from above, delivering a powerful kick to Hojo's shoulder. There was a puff a smoke, and it was a man-sized rock that flew away from the kick, a small crater showing where Naruto's foot had landed. The real Hojo hit the stone in mid-air with his staff, and the rock shattered.

"Surprising," Hojo said. "I never saw you make the replications."

Naruto, panting, grinned again. "I made them and had them hide underground before you arrived. I'm still not that good with that underground fish thing myself, but for some reason my shadow replications can do it perfectly."

"You used your first attack to keep me busy while the clones moved so I wouldn't notice," Hojo stated. "Clever," he added grudgingly. "I shouldn't have underestimated your tactics after seeing what Gonkuro and you did to Akira and Mako before."

Naruto's grin just widened. "So, do I pass?"

"Well, you were supposed to realize that you could use the Mud Wall Technique I've been trying to teach you to catch my staff," Hojo said. "Since I limited myself to staff taijutsu, I wouldn't be able to defend myself."

Naruto snorted. "You're strong enough that you could have pulled the staff right back out," he answered.

"If you put enough chakra into it, maybe not," Hojo said. "You have amazing chakra reserves, boy. You shouldn't be afraid to use them to your advantage. You could easily put enough chakra into a Mud Wall Technique so that it took me more than a couple seconds to free my weapon. That would be long enough to land a blow."

"If you say so," Naruto answered dubiously. "I'm not good with that technique yet."

"From what I've seen," Hojo said, "You're not good with any techniques but the Shadow Replication Technique." Naruto glowered, and Hojo sighed. "Still, I must admit that you have a lot more talent than I first thought." The legendary Rock ninja paused, then continued in a too casual voice. "How'd you get that fool Jiraiya to teach you, though? Last I had heard, he had sworn to never take another apprentice."

Naruto frowned. Jiraiya had said not to tell Hojo anything important, but Naruto didn't see any way that this could be important. Besides, not answering would be more suspicious. "I showed him my first original technique," Naruto said, "and he was impressed." It was stretching the truth, but only a little.

"Oh?" Hojo asked curiously. "Any chance I can see that technique?"

Naruto gulped, trying to think of any way to gracefully decline. Not finding any, he nervously formed a single seal. "Sexy Technique!" There was a burst of white smoke as he transformed.

"I see." Hojo blinked several times. "Ero-sennin indeed." Hojo sounded strangely disappointed, but a moment later he smiled wryly. "The other three are almost here," he commented. "If I were you, I would release that technique before they arrive, unless you want Akira-kun to give you a new nickname."

Naruto gulped and quickly followed his tutor's advice.

* * *

This town was well known as being the closest to the Leaf Village, and occasionally an old map would even mark it with that name. Its main industry was the inns and other establishments that catered to the numerous travelers that passed through its streets. Despite the vast forest on its outskirts, none dared to take ax to tree and start a logging industry. Those woods were home to the Hidden Village of the Leaf, and the ninja would not treat kindly any who threatened that forest.

As the name suggested, the ninja village's precise location within those woods was a secret, at least officially. In reality, anyone who wanted to know could discover its location easily enough. For, despite what else it was, the Hidden Village of the Leaf was also a small city in this day and age, and such a thing was too large and too connected with the outside world to be truly hidden. Despite this, it was courteous for a prospective client to come to this town on the outskirts of the forest and ask the Leaf ninja stationed in a small guard post there for an escort to the Leaf Village. Some valued their time more than courtesy, and those that were not among the unfortunate few who ran afoul of the traps and other hidden dangers of the woods found that their haste would prove expensive.

Despite its nearness to the Leaf Village - only a few hours' run to a ninja in a hurry - this town rarely saw ninja beyond those few genin who were assigned to the guard post and their chuunin commander. After all, with the Leaf Village so close, ninja had little reason to tarry here. Despite this, tonight eight ninja had taken up residence in one of the town's finest inns. This had proved rather expensive, for the innkeepers of the town remembered well an incident from earlier in the year that had left much of an inn's upper story in ruins. The fact that one of those responsible - the legendary Sannin Jiraiya the Toad Hermit - had paid well to compensate did not make the innkeepers think of ninja guests any more fondly.

Yamanaka Inoichi, the Leaf jounin who had been detached from the Leaf's mission to the Wave Country to escort this unlikely company to the Leaf Village, thought the money well spent. It was far better to arrive in the morning, well after the runner he had sent ahead had warned the village to prepare for his arrival, than to arrive unannounced late at night. Dealing with foreign ninja was always tricky, and it was doubly so when those ninja were not allies. Even now, as they ate dinner with the six genin in their care in the private room Inoichi had paid handsomely for, he felt nervous as he watched his Mist counterpart. Mitarashi Kimi smiled slightly at him, perhaps noticing his suspicious scrutiny, and Inoichi sighed to himself. At least this mess would not be his concern for much longer.

Nara Shikaku had, in his infinite wisdom, decided to assign a team of genin that had to return for the Chuunin Exam anyway to escort the Mist team there. It made sense, save for the fact that the two teams had last week fought an inconclusive battle, and more than a few of the six were at least considering the possibility of not waiting for the exams to stage a rematch. It had not helped that Kimi had been more amused than concerned by the potential for violence, leaving it to Inoichi to keep that potential from being realized. Thankfully, only harsh words had been exchanged between the two teams on the journey so far.

As if to complement Inoichi's thoughts, the Mist kunoichi Ren spoke as Kiba fed a choice piece of meat to Akamaru. "You pamper your pet, Kiba-san," she said in her usual quiet tone. Inoichi suspected that her soft way of speaking was very deliberate, rather than an expression of her character as it was with Hinata.

The Inuzuka grinned toothily. "You'll see see just how pampered Akamaru is if we fight again in the exams. I hope you have better moves than what you showed back in Wave Country."

"We shall see, Kiba-san," Ren replied. "We shall see."

"Yeah," the lone male on the Mist team agreed. "We'll see when Ren-chan kicks your ass."

"Saburo," Ren said, a hint of warning in her voice.

"What?" Saburo responded. Ren just shook her head slightly, and with a sigh the male ninja returned to his food, muttering quietly to himself.

Inoichi relaxed slightly. Another potential crisis was past, and in a matter of hours he would be rid of this group. Surely it was not too much to hope that the night would pass quietly. Inoichi glanced at the slight smirk that still graced Mitarashi Kimi's face, and revised his assessment. It probably was too much to hope. The Leaf jounin glanced carefully at Aburame Shino, who was seated next to him. Besides Hinata, he was perhaps the calmest of the group. After a moment, the bug user nodded in understanding. He would make sure to keep his team in their rooms after dinner.

Inoichi frowned to himself. It would have saved much money if he could have paid for two rooms in every inn along the way instead of four, but there was no way he was putting Hinata in a room with the three Mist kunoichi. That arrangement would be even more a disaster in the making than placing Kiba and Saburo in the same room, though through no fault of Hinata's. While Ren seemed calm enough and Inoichi felt certain Kimi wasn't dumb enough to try anything stupid, the third Mist kunoichi was another matter entirely. Midori's eyes rarely left Hinata when the two were together, and there was hatred in that gaze that was too bitter to be the result of their brief fight.

No, Inoichi thought that he had a pretty good idea of the cause of that hatred. Though the active hunting had mostly stopped since the Mist had undergone their reformation a decade ago, the scars of the Bloodline Purges still ran deep in Water Country. Midori clearly bore some of those wounds, and Inoichi had a good idea of what sort. If his suspicions were correct, it was no surprise that she would take an instant dislike to a Hyuuga.

The kunoichi in question rose suddenly, pushing her barely touched plate away. "I'm done," she said simply.

Saburo blinked. "Midori, you barely ate. Are you -"

"Saburo," Ren hissed quietly in a voice that Inoichi doubted most of the table could hear. Blinking, the male mist genin stopped talking, but Midori answered his unfinished question anyway.

"I feel sick," Midori stated simply, glaring across the table at Hinata. Inoichi frowned as he prepared himself to rise. Midori was trying to start a fight. He quietly prayed that Hinata would just let the comment pass.

"I - I have some medical training, Midori-san," Hinata said, her voice trembling at first but growing stronger as she continued. "I have some medicine that may -"

"Shut up!" Midori snarled. "the only thing that will make me feel better is gouging out those eyes of yours."

In an instant, Kiba was standing on the table, a kunai drawn and pointed at Midori's throat. "Kiba-kun," Hinata breathed, half-standing herself. Shino continued to quietly eat his food, as though nothing important was happening.

Inoichi rose. "All right, everyone -"

"I don't know what your problem is, but if you want to hurt Hinata," Kiba growled over Inoichi's words, "you'll have to go through me first."

There was another blur of motion, and now Saburo stood on the table as well, a kunai of his own pushing Kiba's weapon away from Midori. "And if you threaten my teammates, you'll have to fight me first," Saburo declared. While this was going on, Ren had stood and backed away from the table, her hand hovering over the hilt of her kunai. Kimi watched the confrontation eagerly, her smile never leaving her face.

"The next person to move -" Inoichi began, but his words were rendered irrelevant before he could finish the sentence. Snarling, Kiba punched Saburo in the gut with his free hand. The Mist genin flew away, landing with a thud against the wall. Ren drew her weapon, charging the table. Before she could reach it, a cloud of bugs rose up from the floor, swarming around her. Desperately, she tried to ward the insects off with her dagger. In front of her, Shino silently stood, more bugs pouring out of his body.

Midori glared at Kiba as she formed seals, whispering something under her breath. Kiba stiffened, then toppled over, screaming. The veins around Hinata's eyes bulged as she stood. "Genjutsu," she said, forming a seal then laying her hands on Kiba's side. "Release!"

Kiba shook. "What the hell was that?" he said as he rolled off the table, landing in a crouch behind Hinata. Midori just smiled, a kunai in her hands.

"Enough!" Inoichi roared, his hands blurring. "Mass Paralysis Technique!" In an instant, all motion in the room ceased, save for Shino's bugs. "Shino," Inoichi said quietly, and in response to a silent command the insects swarming around Ren rose up and flew back to vanish inside Shino's coat.

"Mitarashi-san," Inoichi said, "I ask that you restrain your students in the future."

Kimi's smile still hadn't weakened. "I remind you, Yamanaka-san," she answered, "that it was a Leaf ninja who struck the first blow."

"He will be disciplined," Inoichi said. "As will anyone who makes any hostile moves once I release my technique," he continued, glaring at each of the genin in turn. Slowly, his hands broke out of the seal they had been maintaining, and the genin began to move again. Thankfully, none of them were stupid enough to continue the fight.

As though the release of the Mass Paralysis Technique had been a signal, the innkeeper burst into private dining room, demanding to know what was going on and who was going to pay to clean up the mess. Inoichi sighed. The Hokage was not going to appreciate his expense report.

* * *

**Day Thirty-two**

"I guess we're about done for now," Ino said, breathing heavily. "There's only so much we three can do without Asuma-sensei."

Sakura nodded as she slumped to the ground, leaning against a tree trunk. Exhaustion swept through her limbs. She was going to need to make sure she got plenty of sleep the next few nights. Ino had been right, much as she hated to admit it; she'd been training too hard. She wouldn't do the team any good if she was dead on her feet when the actual exam rolled around. "I was going to suggest that we go to the library and look at the maps for the large-scale training grounds," she said after a moment. "One of those will probably be where the second exam is held. I'm too tired to concentrate properly, though."

"There's almost fifty of those," Chouji said. "We couldn't remember enough about any specific one to make any difference, anyway." Though he seemed by far the least tired of the three, he squatted down beside the two girls and pulled out one of his ever-present bags of potato chips. Opening it in one smooth motion, he began to noisily snack on them.

Part of Sakura wanted to wince at this, but she forced that part aside. From what she now knew of the Akimichi Clan's techniques, there was a good reason Chouji was the way he was. Besides, he'd burned through far more energy in this morning's training session than either girl, and Sakura felt like she could eat most of a bag of chips herself and from the way Ino's stomach was rumbling her rival would agree. Probably neither of them would choose barbecue flavor, though.

"So what now, then?" Ino asked. Seeming a little less tired, she grinned suddenly. "Should we go tease Asuma-sensei about having to do Shikamaru's gate duty?"

Sakura groaned. "That would require standing up," she complained.

"The teams from other countries ought to be showing up now," Chouji commented. "Maybe Asuma-sensei could tell us something about the ones that passed through his gate."

Sakura had to admit that seemed something like a good idea, though she wasn't certain Asuma would tell them anything useful. He'd been bending the rules to tell Sakura that a team from the Mist was coming, after all. Unbidden, Sakura found herself wondering what she would say to Shimano Ren if she saw her. She forced the troublesome thought aside, reminding herself that they had agreed that there would be no hard feelings. If Ren bore a grudge regardless, she would have to deal with that when the time came.

Slowly, Sakura stood, and with a groan Ino followed suit. Sakura glanced at her rival. "This is your idea, so you shouldn't complain, Ino-pig."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Did I say anything, Forehead?" she asked. "Let's get moving." Chouji noisily finished off the last of his snack and stood himself, and a few moments later the trio was on its way to the main gates. Along the way, Sakura noted an abnormally large number of ANBU patrols on the streets. Had they done that before the last exams or was this a reaction to Orochimaru's attack?

Those patrols were the only unusual thing they saw, at least until they neared the gates. Then, Ino grinned. "We're in luck! It looks like there's a team coming in now."

"Kiba's team is there too," Chouji commented as he peered across the busy square at the gates. "And isn't that your dad, Ino?" he asked.

"What?" Ino said. "You're right! I thought he was supposed to be in the Wave Country for another week," she commented. "I wonder -" She cut off suddenly as she realized that Sakura was staring at the foreign jounin who was showing her papers to Asuma. "Sakura, what's wrong?" she asked as she too began to study the older woman. "That's a Hidden Mist forehead protector!" Ino exclaimed before Sakura could say anything.

Chouji frowned. "They aren't part of the alliance."

Sakura nodded weakly. "I understand there was an exception made," she stated.

"You knew?" Ino asked. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I wasn't supposed to know," Sakura answered, "but Asuma-sensei told me since -" Sakura cut off as Asuma handed the papers back to Kimi, and Yamanaka Inoichi and Team Eight began to lead the visitors from Mist across the square.

"Dad!" Ino called out loudly, waving. "Over here!" Sakura looked at her rival in dawning horror as Inoichi heard his daughter's cry and adjusted his course slightly.

"Ino-chan!" he said moments later as he gathered his daughter into a hug. Sakura didn't pay any attention, instead staring at one of the Mist genin. Shimano Ren returned the gaze levelly.

Chouji blinked. "Is something wrong, Sakura?"

"Sakura-san," Ren said quietly.

"Ren-san," Sakura returned after a moment, barely able to keep her voice steady. Her mind unwillingly returned to the image of the burns her final strike had inflicted on the other girl.

Behind the Mist team, Team Eight stirred. "You know her?" Kiba asked.

Ren ignored him, instead speaking to Sakura. "I did not get a chance to say this before," she said in her usual strangely strong soft voice, "but my congratulations on your victory." Her mouth twitched into a semblance of a smile. "As inappropriate as they might be."

"Thank you," Sakura said weakly.

Ino suddenly noticed what was going on, disentangling herself from her father's embrace. "Sakura?" she asked. Inoichi straightened, seeming to notice Sakura for the first time and paling. Mitarashi Kimi, standing slightly behind the other jounin, smirked.

"This is the one who calls herself Haruno Sakura?" the other kunoichi on Ren's team said suddenly.

The anger in her voice forced Sakura to turn to look at the speaker. For an instant, their eyes met, and the other girl frowned. Then the male member of the Mist team interposed himself between them. "This is the one who beat you, Ren?" he asked. She nodded.

Kiba suddenly laughed. "You're lucky I was holding back before, Ren-san," he said. "Sakura beat you?" He shook his head, chuckling. "That's absolutely pathetic."

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata said in protest.

Sakura glared at the boy. "Is that so?" she asked dangerously.

Kiba blinked. "Ah, sorry, Sakura. I shouldn't have said it like that," he admitted. "But still, we're sort of in different leagues, you know? If we fight in the exams, it won't last long."

Sakura hated to admit it, but Kiba was probably right if he'd improved at all in the past six months. Still, there was something about the way he said it that set Sakura's teeth on edge. "I seem to remember," she commented after a moment, "that you said something along those lines to Naruto right before he beat you."

"You're not Naruto," Kiba said, but he still frowned, his eyes narrowing as he studied Sakura.

"Thankfully not," Sakura muttered.

"You shouldn't be so cocky, Kiba," Chouji commented unexpectedly. Kiba's frown deepened, and Sakura glanced at her stocky teammate, more than a little surprised. It had been obvious to her that Chouji had been holding back quite a bit more than she had been in their practice sessions, and still she hadn't beaten him in a one-on-one spar. It was heartening that he seemed to consider her a serious combatant regardless.

The male Mist ninja spoke again. "Enough of that," he said, and Sakura's attention returned to him. "I take it you are planning to participate in the exams?" he asked, and Sakura nodded. Grinning eagerly, he formed a fist, sticking it in Sakura's face. "My name is Aoki Saburo, and for hurting Ren-chan," he said, "I'm going to beat you up!" Despite his words, his voice was light.

"Saburo!" both of the other members of his team growled. Behind them, Mitarashi Kimi sighed.

Before Sakura could say anything, there was a blur of motion as another ninja interposed himself, grabbing Saburo's fist before he could retract it. "I am sorry," Rock Lee said, "but if you attempt to hurt Sakura-san, I will stop you."

Saburo wrenched his arm out of Lee's grasp. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

Lee grinned widely, his teeth sparkling. "I have the honor of being the Leaf's beautiful green beast, Rock Lee!"

Saburo twitched. "What the hell are you?" he asked weakly. He shook his head, as though to dislodge an uncomfortable image. "Then I'll just have to beat you up too!" he said.

There wasn't even a blur of motion. One moment Rock Lee stood in front of the Mist ninja, the next he was behind him. "I will welcome your attempt," he said, "once the exams begin." Saburo started, looking backward at the Leaf ninja in something akin to horror.

"I know we can handle them, Lee," Tenten said as she and Neji walked up to the cluster of ninja, "but do you really have to go out of your way to get teams to aim for us in the second exam?"

The Mist kunoichi who's name Sakura still didn't know glanced at Neji. "Great," she muttered. "Another silver-eyed freak."

Neji glanced behind her at Hinata and frowned, before returning his gaze to the Mist kunoichi. "An interesting prejudice," he said flatly, "considering that you are a doujutsu user yourself."

Kiba suddenly snapped his fingers. "That's how she," he began before trailing off.

The girl's eyes widened. "How did you know?" she asked.

"When Lee appeared," Neji answered, "you formed a seal and concentrated chakra in your eyes. It's easy enough to determine that you were strengthening your eyesight to try and catch his motion."

"Freak," the girl growled, her hand dropping to the hilt of a kunai.

"Midori," Ren said warningly. "Now isn't the -"

"Enough!" Yamanaka Inoichi bellowed. Sakura started, and suddenly noticing that the cluster of ninja was attracting a great deal of attention. Most ominously, a three-man squad of masked ANBU were perched on top of a nearby rooftop. "Anyone who starts a fight will immediately be disqualified from the exams!" Inoichi continued. "Am I understood?"

Slowly, the various genin nodded, the four teams carefully backing away from each other. A couple of seconds after that, Team Eight closed in again on the Mist team, remembering that they were supposed to be escorting them. Inoichi nodded, satisfied. "All of you will get a chance to fight soon enough," he said. "Save all this fighting spirit for the exams. You'll need it."

* * *

The government of the Hidden Village of the Leaf was more complicated than most people suspected. Officially, the village was ruled, along with the rest of the Fire Country, by the highest daimyo of the nation. As one of his vassals, the Hokage governed the village at his pleasure, at least in theory. In reality, the truth was closer to the other way around. Any daimyo that wished to depose a Hokage had no ability to actually enforce his desires. Meanwhile, if the Hokage ever tired of the daimyo, all knew that the daimyo would soon experience a fatal accident. Still, the Hidden Village of the Leaf did not have the manpower to govern the Fire Country on its own. Without the cooperation of the nobility, the country would fall apart. Thus was the balance of power kept.

It was fortunate for the Fire Country that, unlike in some other countries, there had always been a cooperative relationship between the two people who were effectively co-rulers of the country. While the daimyo might dream of enjoying a stronger position and the Hokage no doubt occasionally envied the unchallenged dominance of the Raikage, for the most part the system functioned well. While the daimyo busied himself with the mundane matters of rulership, the security of the Fire Country and its relations with the other nations were in the Hokage's capable hands.

Inside the Hidden Village of the Leaf, on paper the Hokage was an absolute ruler. In reality, it was impossible to govern a village of ninja without the consent of the governed. Most of the clans had signed treaties granting them many rights when they had joined the Leaf, and it would be a foolish ruler who even hinted at infringing upon them. Custom and tradition were as binding as any formal law could ever be, and in the years since the First Hokage had declared that the coalition of four clans from the Wood and Fire Countries he led was now the Hidden Village of the Leaf there had been time for many customs to be born.

One such custom was that of the village council. As befitted a body that had come into being over time on its own, rather than ever being formally established, its membership was somewhat fluid. The Hokage, of course, always sat on it, along with his or her advisers. They were the only constants. The remaining members varied from meeting to meeting, depending on who was concerned with the matters on the agenda. The heads of the clans each had a right to a seat if they desired one, along with a number of other high-ranking ninja. Though he held no formal position, had he been in the village none would have denied Jiraiya a place on the council in the unusual event he had wished one.

Today, the council was rather small. Besides Tsunade and Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, the advisers she had inherited from the Third, only the theoretically anonymous commander of ANBU was present. Despite the fact that the other three knew his identity well, he still wore his mask as he gave his report. "In short, Hokage-sama," he concluded, "between the casualties suffered six months ago, the need for increased exam security, and our ordinary missions, ANBU is overstretched."

"The whole village is in that situation," Koharu commented.

"I do not need to explain to you, Utatane-dono" the masked ninja said, "the vital role that ANBU plays. I know that other divisions are also short-handed, but I still must request permission to reactivate reserve ANBU and step up recruitment."

"I am inclined to agree," Homura stated. "Hokage-sama?"

"With one exception," Tsunade said. "Uzuki Yuugao left ANBU and is currently leading a genin team."

"I would not call her up in any case," the ANBU commander responded. "She is not psychologically fit for ANBU duty at this time." He paused. "I will also refrain from reactivating any former ANBU currently leading a team in the Chuunin Exams until the exams are over," he added.

Tsunade nodded. "All right, then. Koharu, care to make it unanimous, or will you dissent?"

"I'll consent," Koharu responded.

Tsunade nodded again. "Your motion passes, Hyuuga-san."

"Hokage-sama, please," the commander said with a sigh.

Tsunade grinned. "Sorry," she said.

"I would also propose that the examination board be asked to recommend any new chuunin that seem suited for ANBU duty," the commander continued.

"Rookie chuunin in ANBU?" Homura asked, aghast. "They'll be killed!"

"Not necessarily," Koharu said, her eyes narrowing. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect you intend to use them for internal policing to free up elite chuunin and jounin."

"You are correct," the commander responded.

"That's more reasonable," Homura agreed after a moment.

"I don't like it," Tsunade said. "Even for policing. The old police standards were almost as rigorous as ANBU's, and for good reason." In theory, she could override the council's decision, but in practice if she couldn't muster a majority it wasn't worth using that power. "Still, the motion passes, I suppose, but I'm going to require my personal approval for any postings to ANBU for rookie chuunin." Her voice left no room for debate, and none of the other three raised any protest. "Anything else?"

"That is all," the ANBU responded.

Now Homura spoke. "I'm concerned about the reports from our northern border." He paused, shuffling through the papers on the table in front of him. "It's not like Orochimaru to randomly pick a fight with the Valley."

"You would be surprised," Tsunade said dryly.

The ANBU commander spoke up. "I have not read the recent reports. What is the situation?"

"A couple of weeks ago there was the first real battle," Tsunade said. "From what we can gather, it seems like the Valley finally tried to respond in force to those skirmishes in the southern Hill Country. The Sound met them at the border and repelled them."

Koharu picked up the thread. "Since then things have been relatively quiet. The Rain and Grass have reinforced the Waterfall in case things spill over into that country." She tapped her fingers on the table for a moment. "Other than keeping heavy patrols on our own border, I don't know what else we can do at this point." There was general agreement.

After confirming that the other three had no more issues to raise, Tsunade spoke. "The Chuunin Selection Exam will begin in three days," she said. "The first exam has been designed and approved by the examination board. Morino Ibiki assures me that the testing ground for the second exam will be ready in four days. We already have all participating teams from Waterfall, Sand, and Grass in the village. The last of our own teams out on missions should return by tomorrow. The teams from Rain are scheduled to arrive the day after."

"And the Mist team?" the ANBU commander asked, his voice cold.

"They and their escort should be arriving any minute now." Tsunade answered.

Koharu grimaced. "I don't like this. Denying the Mizukage's request would have been a sign of terrible weakness, but I almost think it might have been a better idea."

"It's only one team," Tsunade said. "I'm sure ANBU will be watching them."

"Of course," the commander said.

There was a knock on the door. "Enter," Tsunade said after a moment.

A woman in an ANBU uniform slipped into council chamber. She walked over to her commander and handed him a slip of paper, before bowing and leaving without saying a word. The commander unfolded the note, quickly interpreting the coded message. "I had asked to be informed of any incidents involving the Mist team immediately," he explained.

"Is there already a problem?" Homura asked.

"Not much of one," the commander answered. "There was almost a brawl between them and some of our genin, but it was defused in time."

"Who was involved?" Tsunade asked.

The ANBU glanced back at the note. "Besides the Mist, three full Leaf genin teams were present and likely to become involved in any fighting."

"That could have been a real mess," Tsunade said. She shook her head. "On a lighter note," she said, "I'm planning to take on a new apprentice once the exams are done with."

"That's a surprise," Koharu said. "It isn't like you to go looking for more work."

"Well, since Jiraiya picked up a second apprentice," Tsunade answered lightly, "I decided I shouldn't let him show me up."

Tsunade could almost feel the ANBU commander blink behind his mask. "Jiraiya-sama has a new student?" he asked.

Tsunade nodded. "Uzumaki Naruto," she said dryly, and the ANBU stiffened.

"That seems unwise," he said.

"On the contrary," Koharu interjected. "Who else would you trust to handle him?" After a moment, the ANBU nodded.

"So," Homura said, "have you anyone in mind, Hokage-sama?" he asked.

Tsunade smiled sweetly at him. "I do," she said, "but I'm holding off on a final decision until after the exams." The Hokage rose. "That's all for today, I believe," she said. "I've got a lot of paperwork to do if I'm going to get Shizune to let me leave at a reasonable hour."

Homura's eyes narrowed as he watched Tsunade leave the council chambers.

* * *

**Day Thirty-three**

"I was hoping, Yamanaka-san," Tsunade said dryly, "that you would tell me that there had been some terrible mistake on this expense report."

Yamanaka Inoichi shook his head. "I'm very sorry, Hokage-sama," he said, "I did my best, but that is what it cost. Between rooms, food, and damages, I'm lucky it was only that bad."

Shizune, in her usual position behind Tsunade, frowned. "Damages?" she asked the jounin. "What do you mean?"

"The inn we stayed at the night before we arrived," Inoichi said slowly. "There was a bit of a scuffle between Yuuhi's team and our guests. Nothing serious, but the innkeeper almost had a nervous breakdown and I needed to calm him down."

"A scuffle?" Tsunade said. "I suppose that you'll be filing a reprimand for them, then. Their mission was to escort the Mist team to the village without incident. They shouldn't have been fighting them."

"They were provoked and stood down when ordered," Inoichi said. "In my judgment as commander of the mission, the provocation was sufficient that their actions do not warrant a full reprimand for the team, though I will be putting in a formal warning for Inuzuka Kiba. It'll all be in the full report." His mouth twitched. "In my judgment, Shikaku made a mistake giving them the mission."

Tsunade put down the summary report Inoichi had given her, folding her hands in front of her face. "It seems efficient to me," she said. "Yuuhi-san is certainly happy to have an extra day to prepare her team for the exam."

"In the Wave Country," Inoichi said, "they were the team that intercepted our guests."

Tsunade glanced at the summary report, then nodded. "I see." She paused. "We don't have ninja to spare, though, Yamanaka-san."

"I know. Do you require anything else?" he asked.

"There's been a lot of speculation in the village council as to the Mist's motives," Tsunade said. "I'd like to hear your observations on that."

Inoichi nodded. "Our guests were clearly sent to the Wave Country to scout out the defenses we're putting into place there. This could be a prelude to an assault there, but I'm inclined to say not. They likely were just taking advantage of the opportunity presented by having a team with a legitimate reason to pass through the area."

Tsunade nodded. "I would order the same," she said.

"The genin team is good, but nothing exceptional," Inoichi said. "So far as I can tell, they think they're here to participate in the exams and take a look at the Leaf Village. There's nothing overly sinister about that. Their commander, Mitarashi Kimi, is the one to watch," he continued. "I haven't got solid evidence, but I suspect she has at least one other mission."

"I see," Tsunade said.

Shizune spoke up. "It may not be a mission, but rather a personal matter. Anko-chan -"

Tsunade cut her assistant off with a wave of her hand. "I know, I know. Remind me to make sure to keep Anko-chan out of her way."

"I'm more worried about her sister seeking out Anko-chan," Shizune answered.

"Do you require anything else?" Inoichi asked.

"Is there anything else you think I need to know?" Tsunade responded.

"Well," Inoichi began, then paused. A moment later, he continued. "One of Kimi's team appears to have had a prior encounter with -"

"Haruno Sakura," Tsunade finished smoothly. "I'm aware of the matter."

Inoichi bowed. "I suspected as much, but I thought I should make sure."

Tsunade nodded. "There's something else I'd like to talk to you about. I was going to make Shizune ask you later, but since Sakura-chan's already come up, I might as well ask you personally."

"Hokage-sama?" Inoichi asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Twelve years ago," Tsunade asked, "you vouched for Haruno Amaya as to her story regarding the father of her daughter, correct?"

Inoichi nodded. "Is there… a problem, Hokage-sama?"

"Do you still have contact with Haruno-san?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes. We're friends," Inoichi said. "What -"

"It has come to my attention," Tsunade said, "that Sakura-chan and her mother have been having difficulties." Tsunade smiled behind her hands. "I thought you might like to know."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Inoichi said after a moment.

"I understand that you were supposed to have two week's leave in a week," Tsunade said. "Let's move that up and start it off now, since you're already in the village." She grinned. "It'll give you a chance to help your daughter before the first two exams, instead of only afterwards."

Inoichi grinned. "I see you figured out my motives," he said. "It wasn't hard," Tsunade said, "considering that Akimichi Chouza filed for a leave request starting immediately after you return to Wave Country. You're dismissed."

Bowing, Inoichi left and headed for his wife's flower shop. "Dad!" Ino greeted him cheerfully as he entered. "Mom said to ask you what you wanted for dinner."

"I don't know," Inoichi said. "Tell her to surprise me." He grinned. "My leave got moved up, so I'll be here for a while now."

"That's great!" Ino said. "So, will you -"

Inoichi nodded. "Tell Asuma I'll be giving you some private training tomorrow. We've only got one day, but we'll make it count." He smiled. "So you and Chouji are teaming up with Sakura-chan?"

Ino nodded. "Forehead begged us and we needed a team member anyway, so we let her in."

"Be nice, Ino-chan," her father responded.

Ino grimaced. "Maybe when she stops calling me a pig," she said.

"Ino." Her father's voice was serious. "Tell me everything you know about what's going on between Sakura-chan and her mother."

Ino's eyes widened. "How did you - Sakura asked me not to tell anyone about that."

"I already know about it," Inoichi responded. "I want you to tell me what you know."

After a long moment, Ino nodded. "Sakura said that her mother didn't want her to take the exams and grounded her because of it. When she had to leave on a mission, she got kicked out."

"Where's she staying?" Inoichi asked.

"Naruto's apartment," Ino responded.

Inoichi grimaced. "Tell her that she's welcome to come here. She shouldn't be -"

"Naruto isn't there," Ino hurriedly added. "He's on a long mission."

"That's," Inoichi began, then he paused. "I guess that's okay. Still, make the offer, Ino. She shouldn't be alone."

"I don't think it would be a good idea for the two of us to be under same roof." Ino grinned. "Particularly since we'll be preparing for the third exam."

"Optimistic, aren't you?" Inoichi said dryly.

"Chouji's gotten real strong," Ino said, "and you know how much better I've gotten. Even Forehead is being useful, and Asuma-sensei says we've got good teamwork."

"That's good," Inoichi said, "but what Chouji said to Inuzuka-kun yesterday applies to you also. Don't get cocky."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Yes, Dad."

"By the way," Inoichi said, "do you know any reason why Hokage-sama would be interested in Sakura-chan?"

Ino blinked. "Hokage-sama? Well, she was Sasuke-kun's teammate." Her voice skipped a little as she said Sasuke's name. "And I think Sakura mentioned that Naruto was on the mission that brought Hokage-sama back to the village."

"I see. I'm going to go have a word with Sakura-chan's mother," Inoichi said. "Don't worry if I'm a little bit late for dinner." Ino nodded, and her father left. A few minutes later, he was knocking on the front door of the Haruno residence.

The door cracked open, and Haruno Amaya peered out. "Inoichi!" she exclaimed.

"Amaya," Inoichi responded. "Can I come in?"

"Of course," she replied after a moment, letting the door swing open. "Have a seat," she said, pointing at the kitchen table. "I'll put some tea on."

"Thank you," Inoichi replied.

As she busied herself with making tea, Amaya said, "I thought you were on a mission."

"I was," Inoichi replied, "but I got my leave moved up since I had to escort a foreign team to the Chuunin Exam. From the Mist, if you'll believe it."

Amaya was silent for a moment. "I see," she said as she brought a teapot over to the table and sat down. She began to pour her guest a cup.

"One of the girls on that team," Inoichi said, his voice serious, "had pretty green eyes. They reminded me of yours."

Amaya's hand jerked, and she spilled some of the tea. "Are you flirting with me?" she asked weakly.

"Amaya," Inoichi said. "I'm here to talk about Sakura." Amaya didn't say anything. "Ino told me you tried to ground her for wanting to take the Chuunin Exam."

Amaya's face hardened. "I grounded her because she lied to me about it."

"And why did she think she had to lie about it, Amaya?" Inoichi asked. The woman didn't say anything. "Amaya," Inoichi repeated. "Sakura is a ninja of the Hidden Leaf. That's what you wanted, isn't it? To honor Takeru-kun's memory?"

"Yes," Amaya responded after a moment. "That's what I wanted."

"Then, why?" Inoichi asked.

"I… I'm scared," Amaya responded after a moment. "Scared of what might happen to her."

Inoichi frowned. "And you think that leaving her without a mother will make that less likely? Amaya, you should know better." He sighed. "You need to be there for her, now more than ever."

Amaya sighed. "I'll think about it, Inoichi."

"I guess that's all I can ask," Inoichi responded uncertainly, "but I would suggest you think quickly, before Sakura-chan decides that she doesn't want her mother back. That wouldn't be good, for you or her."

* * *

"So how has your training gone so far?" Jiraiya asked as he seated himself on his bed in the room the two leaf ninja had been given.

"All right," Naruto said. "I think I'm starting to get the hang of this earth element stuff." He snorted. "At least Hojo-sensei is a better teacher than you, Ero-sennin."

Jiraiya laughed. "That's why I brought you here, boy. I'm not very good at teaching this kind of thing."

"You're not very good at teaching anything, Ero-sennin," Naruto replied. "You just show me a technique and make me figure out how to do it while you go off and do perverted things."

Now Jiraiya snorted. "What you mean is that I make you think instead of holding your hand. It's not enough to be able to perform a technique, boy. To really master something, you need to understand it perfectly. I'm teaching you how to understand techniques - or at least I'm trying to."

Naruto grimaced. "That's just an excuse because you don't want to actually teach me."

"One day you'll understand, boy. Probably when you make it to full jounin and have to teach a team." Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Do I ever pity the poor genin who wind up under you."

"So if the way you teach is so good, Ero-sennin," Naruto asked, his voice making it clear just how ludicrous he found that idea, "why does Hojo-sensei teach us normally? All the Rock ninja say he's a great teacher!"

"He is," Jiraiya answered. "He's very good at teaching earth element techniques. His way of teaching is good for learning the basics of a technique quickly. But it's just rote learning. You can use that technique, and nothing else. Every new technique you have to learn from scratch."

"So?" Naruto asked. "I can still use the technique!"

"But what you aren't learning," Jiraiya said, "is how to learn and create earth element techniques. You're just learning the techniques. You can use them to do what they're designed for, but you don't have the understanding to do anything else with them."

"If that's so important," Naruto said, "why did you bring me here?"

"Because just knowing techniques is still useful." Jiraiya's face was grim. "I intend to make you strong enough to survive both the battle you want to fight and the battles that are going to come to you. I don't have time to teach you everything you need to know my way."

Jiraiya's words hung heavily in the air. Eventually, Naruto quietly said, "I see."

"One thing I need to teach you," Jiraiya said, "is how to think. You have a good tactical mind, boy, but it is untrained. Your mind is a weapon more powerful than any technique, but only if you know how to use it." Jiraiya smiled. "So here's a question for you. I've told you that every technique you learn should be for a reason. What are the reasons for learning the techniques Hojo is teaching you?"

"To make me stronger, of course," Naruto answered.

"But how will they make you stronger?" Jiraiya asked. "Your strength isn't just some number that gets points added to it just by learning a technique. To make you stronger, a new technique has to let you do something you couldn't do before."

Naruto frowned as he puzzled his way through this. "The underground fish thing," he said after a moment, "helps me hide and lets me attack from beneath my opponent."

Jiraiya nodded. "Good. Let's focus on that technique for a moment. What else is it good for?"

Naruto pondered the question for a few more seconds. "A lot of techniques won't hurt me when I'm underground."

"Right," Jiraiya said. "A strong opponent will have techniques that can reach you so you can't use it as a permanent defense, but you can still use the Underground Fish Projection to dodge if you're fast enough."

"Ero-sennin," Naruto said. "When I use it, I'm pretty slow and I still have to dig some." He paused. "But when I use my shadow replications," he continued, "they can move quickly and don't have to dig."

"That's interesting," Jiraiya said after a moment. "There's a couple of reasons that might be happening, but I'd have to watch you to be sure. Maybe once you finish training tomorrow I'll have a look at you."

Naruto nodded. "Hojo-sensei didn't seem to be interested," he said.

Jiraiya shook his head. "I'm sure he was," Jiraiya said, "but the Shadow Replication Technique is a technique developed by the Leaf Village. He doesn't know it." Jiraiya paused. "So tell me, boy. Are you working on your control?"

Naruto blinked at the sudden change of subject. "I'm working on learning the earth element techniques!"

Jiraiya sighed. "Chakra control should be part of everything you do, boy. It applies to every technique you learn."

"Well, yeah," Naruto said. "I know that, but I'm just trying to focus on learning the techniques now. I have to use a lot of chakra to get them to work right. That makes control harder, right?"

Jiraiya let out another sigh. "I'm going to have to find some way to teach you not to just use brute force for everything you do," he said. "Remember why you haven't learned the Whirlwind Counter? You're trying to do the same thing and manipulating the earth just by using a lot of chakra wildly."

"It works!" Naruto protested.

"It does for simple earth element techniques," Jiraiya said, "but not as well. You need to try and make your chakra merge with the earth, not just push it around. That's one of the main advantages of earth element techniques. Only water is easier to suffuse with chakra, but water isn't always available. Unless you're fighting over the deep ocean, earth is."

"If you say so," Naruto said dubiously. "It seems pretty difficult to me."

Jiraiya shook his head. "Try it some more," he said. "Now, what I want you to do is go over in your head the rest of the techniques you've learned here the way we did the Underground Fish Projection."

Naruto groaned. "It's bedtime! I have to get up early for training."

Jiraiya laughed. "I suppose I should let you sleep. But think on that tomorrow, all right?" Naruto nodded. "By the way, did you ever finish that letter you were writing?"

Naruto nodded again, fishing through one of his packs for a folded piece of paper. "Here."

Jiraiya took the paper. "Assuming you didn't say anything you shouldn't, I'll give it and my report to a toad tomorrow and send it to Tsunade. It should get there in a couple weeks."

"Ero-sennin, we're going to be here for about a month, right?" Naruto asked suddenly. "That means we should be finished in time to go back home for the end of the Chuunin Exams."

Jiraiya frowned. "I wasn't planning on going back to the Leaf Village so quickly," he said.

"But," Naruto began to protest, then cut off.

"I understand," Jiraiya said with a laugh. "We'll see how things go, boy."

* * *

**Day Thirty-four**

Once again, after a brief tutoring session and giving the four genin several tasks, Iwakuro Hojo had left his students to their own devices. As he squatted on the ground, trying to figure out what Jiraiya had meant by telling his to merge his chakra with the earth, Naruto grumbled to himself about this. "He seems like a good teacher and all," he admitted even during his complaining, "but wouldn't we get a lot more done if he stuck around?"

Gonkuro gazed at Naruto dispassionately. "Hojo-sama has many other students."

"It's good that Leaf boy came," Akira said. "Otherwise we'd never have gotten any training until the Jounin Exams."

"The Jounin Exams?" Naruto asked.

"What, Leaf boy?" Akira said. "Don't you know what they are?"

"Of course," Naruto answered. "But why -"

"Hojo-sama is preparing several chuunin for them," Mako answered before Naruto could finish his question. "Since they're only a couple weeks away, he spends most of his time with them."

"Oh," Naruto said. He stared at the ground a moment, then raised his hands from it. He wasn't making any progress, anyway. "Hey, have any of you taken the Chuunin Exam?" he asked.

Mako blinked. "Of course not."

"It takes years to be ready for those," Gonkuro said. "We're still in our first year, and we haven't even taken any real missions yet since we've been training with Hojo-sama."

"In theory at least," Akira commented.

Naruto snorted. "All the genin from my year took the exam in our first year, and we all made it to the final part!" he boasted. "I would have won, too, if the exam hadn't been canceled."

"Canceled?" Mako asked.

"Idiot," Gonkuro said. "The Sand and Sound invaded the Leaf Village right before we graduated, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Mako said, blushing slightly.

Akira laughed. "The Leaf must have really wimpy Chuunin Exams if Leaf boy almost won one. He's not that tough."

Naruto glared at him. "I've beaten you every time we've fought," he commented.

"Akira," Gonkuro warned. "Remember what Hojo-sama said."

"I'm not looking for a fight," Akira stated. "I'm just saying the truth. Leaf boy's better than us, but we're just first-year genin. He's not that much stronger than us."

"Akira," Gonkuro said seriously. "He's been holding back."

"What?" Mako asked.

"That replication technique of his," Gonkuro said. "I read something about it once. It's a jounin-level technique of the Leaf Village that divides your chakra evenly among the clones, but his clones can perform every technique Hojo-sama has taught him. Think of how much chakra Naruto-kun must have."

Naruto grinned. "More than you three combined," he said immodestly. Both Akira and Mako's eyes widened.

"Just how strong are you?" Mako asked.

"That's an interesting question," a new voice said. Naruto started. He recognized that voice, but he couldn't quite place it. "Why don't we we find out just how strong you've become, Naruto-kun?" the voice continued.

All four genin looked around wildly before finding the intruders. Two pairs of figures stood on the edge of the training ground, clad in identical red and black cloaks. The high cloaks and large hats they wore obscured their faces, leaving the massive, bandaged sword one of the pair in back carried slung over one shoulder as the only other identifying mark visible. Naruto froze. "You're," he said, then fell silent.

As if on cue, the member of the back pair who wasn't carrying a sword briefly raised his hat slightly. For an instant, a pair of red Sharingan eyes was visible. Naruto could feel his heart pounding. "Whatever you do," Naruto said to the three Rock genin after a moment. "Don't look into that one's eyes." Damn it. What was he supposed to do?

"It wouldn't do any good," one of the pair in front said - the same voice as before.

A terrible torrent of power and killing intent swept out of the four intruders. Gonkuro stumbled under the sudden onslaught, and Mako swore quietly. "What tremendous chakra," she breathed.

Shaking, Akira pulled out a kunai. "We aren't scared of you," he said, though the tremor in his voice put the lie to his words.

"Stay out of this," the figure who stood next to the first speaker - a woman, from her voice - said. "We aren't interested in you. We only want the Leaf boy."

"We," Gonkuro began, only to falter.

"We can't let you have him," snarled Akira, hurling his kunai at the man who had spoken first. As the cloaked figure easily sidestepped the projectile, Akira charged him. "Face the secret technique of the Yamakita Clan," he shouted. "Iron Fist Technique!" His arm turned gray and hard as he punched at the man's face with outstanding speed and strength.

The man dodged backward but not quite quickly enough. Akira's punch hit his hat, knocking it off his head. Before it hit the ground, the man had counterattacked. Naruto couldn't even see the blow, but Akira toppled over, unconscious. "Akira-kun!" Mako yelled.

Then Naruto gasped, his eyes falling on the scratched Sound forehead protector the man wore before lowering to his very familiar face. "You're," he gasped.

"Hello, Naruto-kun," Yakushi Kabuto said with a smirk as he reached up to adjust his glasses. "I must admit that I did not expect to see you again this quickly."

"You hurt Akira-kun!" Mako shouted angrily. She charged Kabuto, futilely hurling a dozen shuriken in rapid succession.

"Mako," Gonkuro yelled, "Don't -"

Naruto shook himself. He had to do something. "Mass Shadow Replication Technique!" he called out, cutting Gonkuro off. The male Rock ninja stared briefly at the horde of clones, then fainted. Two of the replications grabbed Mako before she could reach Kabuto, even as a dozen clones jumped forward and began to circle around the man.

"Impressive, Naruto-kun," Kabuto said, "but pointless. Katon: Great Fireball Technique!" The massive fireball engulfed the clones in front of him. The two carrying the struggling Mako away were caught in the edge of the blast and vanished. Mako tumbled forward, and did not rise.

The clones behind Kabuto charged, sliding in to kick the man up into the air. "Uzumaki," they began to shout, only to cut off as there was a puff of smoke. A pile of small stones appeared where Kabuto had been, falling back toward the clones and disrupting several when they hit.

"Replacement Technique," snarled one Naruto.

"Correct," Kabuto agreed from his perch atop a nearby boulder. He reached behind him, pulling out a handful of shuriken. He tossed them into the air, then raced through seals. "Shuriken Shadow Replication Technique!" A torrent of steel raced through the horde of clones, turning the training ground into a field of white smoke. When it cleared, not a single Naruto was visible.

"I thought we weren't going to have to fight," the woman who had stood beside Kabuto at the beginning of the battle said. "If we wait too much longer, we'll be noticed."

Kabuto sighed. "You are correct, of course," he said. "Naruto-kun!" he called out. "We are not here to capture you." The apparently former Sound ninja smiled. "We aren't ready for that now."

A Naruto appeared in a puff of smoke on top of a boulder. "Then what are you here for, Kabuto-san?"

Kabuto adjusted his glasses. "Our organization decided that it would be troublesome if Orochimaru got his hands on the Sharingan." He paused, his smirk widening. "I was ordered to capture Sasuke-kun and take him away from Orochimaru."

The visible Naruto's eyes widened. "And?" he asked.

"Our organization does not have the time to handle Sasuke-kun ourselves, and Itachi-san won't let us simply kill him." Kabuto sighed. "He's a difficult person like that." In the back, Uchiha Itachi made no comment. "We need to give him to someone who can keep Orochimaru away. When we found out you and Jiraiya-sama were in the area, a solution presented itself."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"We have Sasuke-kun in a cave near here. Come with us, and we will give him to you," Kabuto said. "We don't want to involve Jiraiya-sama directly, because he will no doubt try to kill us."

"How do I know it's not a trick?" Naruto snarled.

"You don't," Kabuto said. "But," he continued, sighing, picking up Akira's still form by the neck, "if you don't come, I'll kill this boy."

"Kabuto," the woman said warningly, but he only waved her away.

"Well, Naruto-kun?" Kabuto asked. "You know I'm fast enough to kill him before you can do anything."

Shadow clones began to erupt from the earth around Kabuto. As they rose into the air, their eyes shifted color and waves of power almost matching the killing intent the four intruders had mustered poured out from them. Faintly visible red chakra swirled through the air as they descended toward Kabuto. The traitorous Leaf ninja smiled slightly as he leapt away.

"Interesting," he commented. Kabuto tossed Akira at the woman behind him, who caught him after fumbling a moment. Kabuto had already raced through a set of seals. "Katon: Great Fireball Technique!" Again a massive ball of flame appeared before him, catching most of the descending clones. Thrown kunai skewered the remaining handful. Still smiling, Kabuto took Akira back from the woman. "That was your one free chance," he said. "Next time this boy dies."

The Naruto perched on top of a boulder swore before vanishing in a puff of smoke. If it was just Kabuto, he might be able to handle it, but he couldn't go all out against him in case one of the other three Akatsuki got involved. There wasn't anything he could do against all four unless Jiraiya or Hojo - or better, both - showed up soon.

"Well, Naruto-kun?" Kabuto asked, tightening his grip around Akira's neck. "Last chance."

After a still moment, Naruto stepped out from another boulder. "All right," he said as he walked toward the four intruders. As soon as he was among them, the woman grabbed him and slung him over her shoulder. He didn't resist, and Kabuto gently placed Akira on the ground. Instants later, the five ninja were gone, rapidly moving away from Hojo's estate.

Several moments later, they stopped in front of a massive dome of wax and the woman set Naruto down. "How do we know Jiraiya will find us?" Itachi asked. Naruto frowned. That voice seemed off, and why would they want Jiraiya to find them?

Kabuto adjusted his glasses, sighing. "The toad this boy summoned will bring him soon enough, I'm sure."

Itachi's eyes widened. "When did he -" he began.

Something became clear to Naruto. "You aren't," he began only to stop as Kabuto prodded the back of his neck. Slowly, he collapsed.

Kabuto sighed again. "That would have been troublesome. You shouldn't have broken character, Kurobachi-san."

There was a puff of smoke as the man dispelled the transformation technique, tossing aside his hat and cloak. "Sorry," he said. A moment later, the other two Kamizuru followed suit.

"How long will he be out for?" Suzumebachi asked as she stared down at Naruto's still form.

"Long enough," Kabuto answered. "You three should take him inside to bait the trap. I will watch for the Toad Hermit's approach." Suzumebachi nodded, and the three Kamizuru complied with Kabuto's orders.

Once they had vanished into the giant bee hive, Kabuto smiled softly to himself. "Long enough for Orochimaru-sama's purposes, that is," he said to the empty air as he seated himself on a nearby boulder and turned to watch the hive. "This should at least be entertaining. You'd best hurry, Jiraiya-sama, or you'll miss the show."

* * *

Jiraiya had just bitten his thumb, drawing just a bit a blood to summon a messenger toad to take his report and Naruto's letter to Tsunade, when Gamakichi appeared on the desk in his room. "You're a little early," he commented. "I hadn't even used the technique yet."

"Naruto summoned me!" the toad said, sounding slightly annoyed.

Jiraiya blinked as he stared at the amphibian. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Four really scary people in weird cloaks were there and -"

"What?" Jiraiya interrupted, rising from his seat. "What type of cloaks?"

"Black, with red clouds on them," the toad answered.

Jiraiya swore. "What happened?"

"They said something about having that Sasuke kid," the toad said quickly. "They wanted Naruto to come with them so they could give him to him." The toad paused briefly to catch his breath. "He went and told me to get you."

"That idiot!" Jiraiya swore again. "I didn't think even he was dumb enough to fall for -"

"They had a hostage!" Gamakichi protested. "Naruto tried to save him but there wasn't any other way."

Jiraiya sighed. "Damn it." He glanced at the toad. "Good work. You can go now." As the toad vanished in a puff of smoke, Jiraiya left the room almost as quickly. The other ninja at Hojo's estate saw only a blur of motion as he raced to the training ground where Hojo was working with his advanced students.

"What do you want, fool?" Hojo asked as Jiraiya suddenly appeared in the center of the training ground.

"I seem to have terribly overestimated how much time we had," Jiraiya said coldly.

Hojo's eyes widened. "Them? Already?" When Jiraiya nodded grimly, the legendary Rock ninja gestured at his students. "Go back to the estate. Sound the alarm and get all available ninja organized into search parties."

Moments later, Jiraiya and Hojo were at the training ground Naruto and the three Rock genin had been at. Hojo's face hardened as he stared at the fallen forms of his three genin students. "There will be a reckoning for this," he snarled, racing through seals. He knelt, plunging one hand to the ground. "Doton: Earth Dragon Hunter!" The ground rumbled briefly. "Five people," Hojo stated. "They didn't go far, not even out of range of my technique. Due west for a few minutes."

Jiraiya nodded. "Thank you."

"Don't." Hojo's eyes were hard. "I take full responsibility for this disaster. Even if we didn't think they would strike for a while yet, it was foolish of me to leave the Kyuubi without a competent guard."

"It isn't over yet," Jiraiya said.

Hojo nodded. "Go. I will arrange care for these three and follow as quickly as I can."

Jiraiya nodded again, and a moment later he was gone. Several minutes after that, he was frowning at the cloaked man who confronted him before the entrance to a massive bee hive. Had the Kamizuru made common cause with Akatsuki? How would they even have met? "Yakushi Kabuto," Jiraiya said. "You seem to go through more masters in a year than most men do in a lifetime."

"Or perhaps I only serve one master," Kabuto replied.

Jiraiya stepped forward. "Yourself, you mean?" he asked.

Kabuto smiled. "Perhaps," he repeated as he discarded his cloak and passed one hand over his marred forehead protector. When his hand dropped away the scratch was gone. "I'm afraid I cannot let you pass just yet," he replied.

Jiraiya snorted. "You intend to stop me, kid?"

"Not alone," Kabuto replied as three men in Sound uniforms appeared in front of him. Suddenly, the hive behind them shuddered, and Jiraiya could feel tremendous waves of power. "Ah," Kabuto said, "it's begun."

Jiraiya frowned. "What?"

"Orochimaru-sama wished to determine how strong Naruto-kun was becoming." Kabuto smiled, gesturing back at the hive. "The Kamizuru provided an opportunity for me to provide a test for Naruto-kun and acquire a few other things of interest to my master."

Jiraiya's eyes followed his gesture. "That chakra is way too big to be the Kamizuru."

Kabuto's smile widened. "It's a drug I've developed. It doesn't actually make your chakra any stronger, but it makes it feel that way. It helped us fool poor Naruto-kun. Of course," he said with a sigh, "the chakra feels stronger to the user too, so those three will probably burn themselves out since they won't know when they're running out of chakra." Kabuto smiled. "I doubt you will shed many tears for them, Jiraiya-sama."

A new wave of power pulsed out of the hive. "Naruto," Jiraiya said softly, his eyes narrowing.

Kabuto whistled appreciatively. "He must be in a foul mood," he said.

"I don't seem to have time to play with you four," Jiraiya said, "so I'll end this quick."

One of the Sound ninja raced through seals. "Sonic Wave Barrage!" he shouted, throwing his arms out wide. Jiraiya appeared to stagger, and another Sound ninja charged, plunging a kunai into Jiraiya's stomach. The shadow clone vanished in a puff of smoke, and the real Jiraiya appeared, a Rasengan spinning in one hand. When it hit the Sound ninja though, there was another puff a smoke. The log that was left behind shattered under Jiraiya's attack.

The third Sound ninja sliced at his own palm with a kunai. He rapidly pulled out a scroll and opened it, letting his dripping blood fall along it. "Ninpou: Summoning - Devouring Serpent Technique!" A massive snake appeared in a puff of smoke.

Jiraiya sighed, biting at his thumb. "Ninpou: Summoning - Food Cart Destroyer Technique!" The even larger toad that appeared crushed the snake, gazing down in boredom at the tiny ninja that surrounded him.

Kabuto smiled. "Katon: Fire Dragon Blast!" He raised a hand to his mouth, guiding the torrent of flame that surged out of it toward the toad. Jiraiya formed a seal, and the toad vanished in a giant cloud of smoke before the flames could reach it. The toad would almost certainly have survived, but Jiraiya didn't like to see his allies in pain.

One of the three Sound ninja had circled behind Jiraiya and charged. Jiraiya let him draw near before spinning around and slamming a Rasengan into his chest. This time, the ninja couldn't dodge in time and he did not rise when he fell. Jiraiya's hands raced through seals as he turned to the other two Sound ninja. "Katon: Phoenix Flame Technique!" One after another, small fireballs spewed out of Jiraiya's mouth. The enemy ninja managed to dodge the first few, but soon enough they were taking hits. It wasn't enough to take them out of the fight, though.

The twin Rasengan Jiraiya's shadow clones placed at their backs were, however. As his two allies fell, Kabuto smiled. "You truly are worthy of your title as one of the legendary Sannin," he commented.

The two clones vanished, and Jiraiya glared at him. "You're next, kid," he said.

Then there was a new wave of power racing out of the bee hive. Both ninja glanced at it, and Kabuto's eyes widened as the wax walls began to shatter. "Very impressive," he said. The hive began to collapse, and Kabuto jumped away moments before a chunk of wax hit where he had been standing.

When the destruction finished, a figure was crouched on top of the pile of rubble. Thick red chakra shone around him, clinging to his form like something physical. Atop his head the malevolent energy formed long ears, while a long tail of chakra protruded from his rear, moving about like a living thing. A second tail was half-formed, growing slightly then shrinking in a constant oscillation. It was hard to see under the crimson aura, but Jiraiya could make out the blood that covered Naruto. Somehow, he doubted that it belonged to his student.

"This is more than I expected," Kabuto commented dryly.

"In the name of all that is holy," a new voice breathed.

Jiraiya glanced sideways. "Hojo," he said in greeting.

"It seems things are getting a little out of hand," Kabuto said. "I will take my leave." There was a puff of smoke, and when it faded he was gone.

Naruto's crimson eyes turned to his teacher. He growled, and there was nothing human in his gaze or voice. He tensed, then vanished in a blur of motion. Jiraiya leapt backward moments before Naruto pounced at where he had been standing. "He's gone berserk," Hojo commented. "We might have no choice but to kill him."

As if in answer to his words, the second tail pulsed one last time, then rapidly retreated. As it vanished, Jiraiya for the first time saw something besides mindless rage in Naruto's red eyes. Then they widened, turning blue as the malevolent aura faded away. "Ero-sennin," Naruto said weakly.

Then he fainted.

* * *

**Day Thirty-five**

Sakura's heart was pounding. Despite her best efforts, she had barely gotten any sleep the night before. She had wound up spending most of the night pouring over her scrolls of notes one last time, unable to even think about sleeping. It was somehow worse, knowing what was coming. Six months ago, she didn't think she had been this nervous. Even though she had - rightfully, she now knew - doubted that her skills were adequate to pass the exam, she hadn't known just how difficult the exam would be.

Now she did, and now she had a much firmer goal. The Hokage had told her that she was expected to improve on her performance this time if she wanted to become her apprentice. Sakura had to win at least one match in the third exam. "I have to," Sakura muttered to herself. She wasn't going to ever be left behind again, and this was the first step on that road. She clenched her fist.

"Sakura-san!"

She looked at the speaker and forced a smile onto her face. "Lee-san, good morning."

Lee and his teammates walked over the tree Sakura was leaning against. "Where is you team?" Neji asked after a moment.

Sakura shrugged. "They still have a few minutes before they're late. I couldn't sleep so I got up early."

Tenten looked down at the orange leg warmers Sakura wore. "Are those," she began, only to cut off as Sakura nodded. "Interesting," the other kunoichi said, glancing sideways at Lee. Her gaze returned to Sakura. "Do you really think that you can take on Kiba-san?" she asked.

It took Sakura a moment to remember her bold words of three days ago. She swallowed nervously, but she managed to stop herself from saying no. "There's only one way to find out," she said, her voice steady. Damn it. What was she going to do if she was paired up against Kiba, or worse someone like Gaara, in the third exam?

Tenten gave Sakura a measuring gaze. "Well, at least you have the right spirit now, Haruno," she said. She turned back to her teammates. "Come on. Let's get this over with, you two." Without a word, Neji followed her towards the academy building. Lee smiled at Sakura, then with a wave went after his teammates.

A few minutes later, Ino and Chouji arrived. "You ready, Forehead?" Ino asked.

Sakura grinned weakly. "Any time, Ino-pig," she said. Chouji glanced between his two teammates and sighed. "Let's go," Sakura said, and as one the team entered the academy building and made their way up the stairs. Just like six months ago, the first exam was being held in room 301.

"Here we go," Ino said a moment later.

"Are you blind, Ino-pig?" Sakura asked. "This is the second floor. It's a genjutsu just like last time."

Ino rolled her eyes. "I know that," she said. "But we can still take a look at the competition." She grinned. "Besides, Shikamaru asked me to take us by there."

Sakura shrugged. "All right," she said, following Ino and Chouji onto what seemed to be but wasn't the third floor. There was already a cluster of ninja crowding around the door labeled 301. Still, the three exam veterans were able to force their way through the crowd with ease. Sakura blinked as she saw who was blocking the door.

"Yo," Shikamaru said with a wave. Three genin, frozen in front of him, helplessly imitated the wave. Shikamaru sighed, and his shadow retracted itself. "You three can go on through," he told his two teammates and Sakura.

"Hey!" a girl in the crowd protested. "Why do they get to go through?" Sakura frowned. She recognized that voice.

"Because," Shikamaru said slowly, "they're worthy to take this exam." He sighed again. "This exam would be less troublesome if you all would wait until you're as good as them."

The girl let out a bark of laughter. "Those three? Better than us? You're joking!"

Sakura blinked as she turned to face the protester, who had made her way to the front of the crowd. Two more genin, a boy and a girl, followed after her. Sakura smiled. Yes, she knew this person. She glanced sideways at Ino. The other kunoichi smiled back at her. "I'll let you do the honors," she said, taking a step toward Shikamaru.

Sakura turned back to the protester, looking her up and down. The crowd around them hushed as they watched the confrontation. "Uzuki Ami," she said slowly. "It's been a while. Not since you and your cronies failed the final exam that year and had to be held back, right?"

Ami pushed a strand of her purple hair back behind an ear, her dark eyes flaring. "Get out of my way, forehead girl, before I have to hurt you."

Behind Sakura, Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "What's all this about?" he asked Ino, who grinned at him.

"Sakura's enjoying a little payback," she explained quietly. "Ami was the biggest bully in our kunoichi training class, and Sakura was her favorite victim."

Sakura ignored Ami, turning to the other rookie girl. "Mitokado Fuki. I see you're still hanging around with Ami-chan. Where's Kasumi? Did she finally flunk out?"

"She's on my aunt's team," Ami answered for her friend. "Hey, Ino!" she called out. "You should come over here. Forehead girl's going to need rescuing, just like the old days." Ino only rolled her eyes.

Sakura pondered her options, and decided that simple was best. She turned around, showing her back to her old tormentor. "If you're so confident," she said as she walked back to her team, "give it your best shot." Ami snarled and charged. Sakura had planned to use the replacement technique, but there was no need. Resisting the urge to yawn theatrically, Sakura sidestepped, reaching out and grabbing the other girl's shoulder as she passed. "Is that all?" Sakura asked. Was Ami really this weak?

"Hey, Ami," the boy on her team said. "That's enough. No need to show off." Ami snarled again as she shook herself free of Sakura's grasp, but she backed away. "Chouji, Shikamaru," the boy said as he nodded at the other two male genin.

"You know him?" Ino asked.

"Inuzuka Shinta," Chouji answered. "He's a year below us."

"Inuzuka?" Sakura said, glancing at the boy. "Shouldn't you have a dog?"

Shinta grinned, lightly tapping the blocks of color tattooed on his cheeks. "You're thinking of the main families, like Kiba-san from your class," he said casually. "Different tattoos, see? My family has its own techniques."

"Ah," Sakura said.

"Anyway," Shikamaru said, stepping aside. "Go on, you three. I'd wish you luck, but you probably don't need it."

"But," Chouji began, only to silence at a look from Shikamaru. Without another word, he entered what was really room 201. A moment later, Ino and Sakura followed. The crowd of rookie genin began to murmur excitedly as Shikamaru stepped back into position, shutting the door behind the three veterans.

Inside room 201, a much older chuunin was sitting in a chair. "Shikamaru-kun's doing a good job," he commented. "With the performance you three gave, I don't know if any of those rookies will notice the genjutsu and pass the application turn-in phase."

Ino laughed. "Probably not," she agreed.

Chouji looked around the almost empty room. "How will we get upstairs?"

The chuunin pointed at an open window. "Up the wall," he said dryly. "You three can handle that, right?"

Moments later, the three had climbed through another open window into a room that Sakura recognized. This was where Sasuke and Lee had fought. Sakura shook her head. She couldn't believe that it had only been six months ago. "Something wrong?" Ino asked. Sakura shook her head again, and Ino shrugged. "Let's go, then," she said. "We've only got another fifteen minutes."

When they entered the real room 301, the sight of the gathered genin was nowhere near as intimidating as the last time. Sakura's eyes still narrowed as she took in the room. Instead of the long rows of seats, many smaller desks had been installed. Each one had three chairs at it. Were they going to take the exam as a team?

"Hey, you made it!" Inuzuka Kiba said as he walked forward toward them. The other two members of his team trailed after him. "You all ready?" he asked, grinning.

"Of course!" Ino said loudly. "You better believe it!"

Neji, Tenten, and Lee walked up to the six. "It's a different feeling than the last time," Neji said quietly, without wasting time on a greeting. Sakura glanced around. He was right. Once again, nine Leaf genin - though a different nine - were gathering near the doorway. This time, though, none of them seemed to care about the hostile glares they were already receiving.

Kiba grinned, waving broadly. "It's too bad Naruto isn't here to give his challenge," he said. "What was it? I'm not going to lose to any of you?"

Neji smirked. "He was right."

Kiba shook his head. "I would never have believed it," he said.

The doors to the exam room opened, admitting a trio of Sand ninja. In an instant, Lee stood in front of them. "Excuse me," he said. "May I ask you a question?"

Tenten sighed. "What kind of trouble is he getting into now?" she asked, walking toward her teammate. A moment later, other seven genin followed.

The lead Sand ninja blinked. "What do you want, kid?"

"One of the genin from your village who was here last time," Lee said. "I have been looking for him, but I haven't seen him. Could you tell me if he is attending the exam?"

The Sand ninja blinked. "You're a veteran?" he asked. When Lee nodded, he shrugged. "Who are you looking for?"

"Gaara of the Desert," Lee said simply.

All three Sand ninja stiffened. "Why?" the lead one asked.

"I desire a rematch with him," Lee responded.

The Sand ninja stared at Lee, eyes wide. "You fought Gaara and lived?" he asked, disbelievingly.

Lee shrugged modestly. "That's nothing," he said, gesturing back at Sakura. "Sakura-san's old team fought Gaara and won."

Sakura blinked as all the Sand ninja within earshot began to stare at her. Her hands twitched. She'd never thought she would say this to herself, but she really wanted to throttle Lee. She'd spent almost that entire battle unconscious, damn it! Now all the Sand ninja thought she could take on a monster like Gaara!

"When did you fight Gaara?" Ino whispered.

"During the invasion," Sakura said quietly. "It wasn't really me, though."

Ino laughed softly. "I guess Sasuke-kun -" She cut off as she said the name.

Sakura shook her head. "It wasn't him," she said. She could still remember the strange tone in Sasuke's voice when she had tried to thank him for saving her and he had told her that Naruto was the one responsible.

"You're trying to tell me Naruto beat him?" Ino asked, her voice strangled. "How the hell did that happen?"

Sakura shrugged. "I didn't see the fight," was all she said, her attention returning to Lee.

"I see," he said to the Sand ninja. "May I ask why he isn't taking the exam?"

"When he came back from the… from the exam," the Sand ninja explained, "he declared that he was now a chuunin." He paused. "And, well… nobody wanted to argue with Gaara of the Desert."

"I see," Lee said. "How disappointing. I was looking forward to facing him again." The Sand ninja stared at Lee in something akin to horror.

"What about the other two?" Tenten asked suddenly.

"Kankuro-san and Temari-san?" one of the three Sand ninja asked. When Tenten nodded, he continued. "We were out of the village when it happened, but I hear Temari-san was complaining about not being able to find a third member for her team, so Gaara just announced that his siblings were now also chuunin." The ninja shrugged. "And, well -"

"Nobody wanted to argue with Gaara of the Desert," Tenten finished for him. "I see."

"It looks like the desks are labeled," Chouji said suddenly to his teammates. "We should go find our seats." Sakura and Ino nodded, and the three walked away from the cluster at the doors. About a minute later, they had located the desk labeled with their names. As Sakura had guessed, they were together at the same desk.

"Looks like I won't have to switch bodies with you two like we planned," Ino commented.

Sakura shuddered. "Good." It had made sense as the easiest way to share answers without detection, but she hated the way it felt when Ino hijacked her body.

A shadow suddenly fell across them. Sakura looked up, seeing a boy who seemed to be a couple of years older than them and wore a Waterfall forehead protector. "Excuse me," he said. "Are you Haruno Sakura?"

Sakura blinked. "I am. Do I know you?"

The Waterfall ninja shook his head. "I am Hiraki Arata," he said, "and I was given a message for you from an Uzumaki Naruto."

Sakura straightened in her seat. "Naruto?" she asked, surprised. "How?"

"He was traveling through Waterfall Country with Jiraiya-sama," Arata explained. Ino and Chouji blinked at that. "We met when he was staying at one of the Waterfall's bases a few weeks ago."

"I see," Sakura said. So Naruto had passed through Waterfall Country. "What did he say?"

Arata coughed. "He said 'Tell her I lo… I li… I say hi.'" He grinned at Sakura.

Sakura flushed as Ino laughed. Damn Naruto. Why did he have to be so embarrassing? "Thank you," she managed to say after a moment.

"Hey, Arata!" a Waterfall kunoichi yelled loudly from across the room. "If you're done flirting, Ikkei-kun's found our seats!"

Arata rolled his eyes. "Coming, Maya!" he called back. He grinned again at Sakura. "See you," he said as he turned away.

"Well, that was interesting," Ino said, holding back laughter.

"Shut up, Ino-pig!" Sakura growled.

Before Ino could respond, the front of the classroom filled with smoke. When it cleared, a dozen chuunin in gray uniforms and carrying stacks of papers lined the front of the room. In front of them stood a special jounin Sakura just barely recognized, the ever-present toothpick in his mouth twitching as he took in the room. "My name is Shiranui Genma," he said simply. "I will be the head examiner for the first test of this Chuunin Selection Exam. If you have not yet found the desk labeled with your team's names, please do so now and be seated. One of the examiners will take your final applications and give your team a copy of the written exam. Please do not turn the paper over until you are instructed to, or I will be forced to fail your team before the exam even begins."

This took several minutes, and once it was accomplished Genma spoke again. "The rules are simple," he said. "The first test is a written exam consisting of ten questions. Nine questions are on the paper in front of you; you will have forty-five minutes to answer them and they will be worth one point each. The tenth question will be given at the end of the exam." Sakura nodded. It was more or less like the last time. "Any team caught cheating," Genma continued, "will immediately be disqualified."

Sakura blinked, trading a look with her teammates. That was different. Was this going to be a simple test of knowledge then? Sakura grinned. That would not be a problem.

"As you can see," Genma said, "each team has been given one copy of the test. You will take the test together and pass or fail as a team. If there are no questions," Genma said, pausing briefly to make sure that was the case, "you may begin."

Chouji flipped over the paper, and Sakura quickly skimmed the test. The questions seemed tough at first glimpse, but nothing like last time. While most genin might have a problem with them, this was her specialty. She'd been able to answer the questions six months ago, and they had been designed to be too tough for genin to answer. This would present no difficulty.

"Look," Ino whispered quietly, gesturing discretely at a team in the front row. "Those three are moving through without even looking at the problems. I bet they're actually examiners, like those two people last time."

"Don't try anything," Chouji said, his lips hardly moving. "The rules are different this time."

"They're probably bait," Sakura agreed.

Ino rolled her eyes. "I know," she said.

"Team number sixteen," one of the gray-uniformed examiners said. Sakura glanced at the number beside her team's names on the desk - nine - and breathed a sigh of relief. "Utatane Izumo, Yamashiro Naizen, Tatami Mai," the examiner continued. "Fail." The other genin began to murmur quietly as the named ninja began the trek back to the classroom door. The examiner smirked. "If you're going to cheat, cheat like someone who deserves to be a chuunin."

"Come on," Ino said after a moment. "Let's get started."

Chouji glanced at the first question. "List three provisions of the alliance treaty between the Leaf and Sand and explain how they are relevant to a chuunin's duties," he read.

"Easy," Sakura said quietly. She grabbed a pencil and began to write fluently. She smiled to herself. No, this exam would not be a problem at all. Indeed, twenty minutes later, she was finishing up on the ninth question - a rather tricky strategy question that seemed to be at least partially inspired by the events of the last Chuunin Exam, oddly enough. Ino and Chouji had contributed, of course, but most of the answers Sakura had provided herself. Back in the academy, her scores in other categories had dragged her down to the middle of the class ranking, but she had been the almost uncontested number one student at this kind of test. That hadn't changed.

By this point, it had been a while since the examiners had announced a team's failure. Most of the truly rash teams had already disqualified themselves. Everyone remaining seemed to have either realized that cheating was futile or was good enough to get away with it. Then one of the examiners wandering around the room slammed his hand down on a desk, attracting the attention of all the remaining genin. Sakura blinked. That was Kiba's team.

"You think you're clever, don't you?" the examiner asked. "Waiting this long to cheat so we wouldn't be paying attention, huh?"

Kiba half-rose. "Hey," he began, only to be shoved back into his seat.

"You think we don't know about the Aburame Clan's insect techniques, do you?" the examiner asked. "Protesting your innocence won't help."

"But," Hinata protested, then fell silent. Shino continued to write on his team's paper, ignoring the examiner.

"Team number thirty-one," the examiner said after a moment. "Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba. Fail." Sakura shook her head. She couldn't believe they could fail like that. Kiba was a loudmouth, but his teammates weren't dumb enough to try anything in these conditions.

Shino continued writing for several more moments - from the position of his pencil, he was on the last question. The examiner stared at him a moment, then wrenched the pencil from his hand. Shino rose. "Let's go," was all he said. Trading looks, Hinata and Kiba rose themselves and followed their teammate out of the classroom.

Shaking her head again, Sakura returned to her own work. A minute later, she was done, and she flipped the paper over, leaning back in her chair. "That wasn't that bad," she said.

Chouji shook his head. "It would have been tough without you," he said.

Ino snorted. "We could have done it."

The remaining twenty minutes passed slowly. Several more teams were failed, most in the last minutes as desperation drove them to try cheating. Precisely forty-five minutes after the exam had begun, Genma rose from behind the teacher's desk, his toothpick twitching. "Please put down your pencils and turn over your papers," he said.

When that was done, the first examiner continued. "The tenth question is an optional question," he said. Sakura's eyes narrowed. If this was anything like last time, the real test began now. "All teams that choose not to take it will receive one additional point. Teams that answer the question may receive up to ten points or as few as negative ten points." Sakura frowned. That was more points, either way, then the rest of the test combined.

The examiner smiled around his toothpick. "There are twenty-seven teams still participating in this exam. The teams with the top sixteen scores will proceed to the next exam. You have ten minutes to decide whether to answer the tenth question. If you decide not to, please turn your papers in to the nearest examiner and leave the classroom. Thank you." Genma seated himself again.

"What do we do?" Sakura asked. "I know we have these nine questions right."

"We stick around," Ino said with a grin. "With your over-sized forehead on our side, we'll be able to ace the tenth question."

"Chouji?" Sakura said.

"I don't know," he said. "There's probably a trick to it."

Sakura nodded. That had been the case the last time. "I think we should stay," she said.

"It's the same as before," Ino agreed. After a moment, Chouji nodded, and the three settled back. Several teams had already left, but none of the remaining teams seemed inclined to follow suit.

At the end of the ten minutes, Genma rose again. "Everyone who left this room," he said quietly, "has failed." A few of the remaining teams began to murmur, but most stayed quiet. "They showed either underconfidence or overconfidence in their abilities, and neither is becoming in a chuunin."

A Grass genin raised her hand. "Could you explain?" she asked.

"Of course," Genma said. "This test is like a battle, with all the other teams as your opponents. Those who did not take the tenth question ceded a potential advantage to the rest. There is risk in the tenth question, but there is risk on all missions. Those who are scared of risk or underestimate the competition and therefore allow their enemies the advantage do not deserve to be chuunin."

"So do we all pass, then?" Sakura asked.

"No," Genma said. "There are still twenty-two teams remaining, and only sixteen will proceed to the next exam." He smiled. "I will now give you the tenth question. You may write your answers on the back of your test. Again, any cheating will result in immediate disqualification. Are there any questions?" There were none. Genma nodded. "For the tenth question," he said, "your answer is not the most important part. While you will get points for a correct answer an incorrect answer will not receive, most of the points will be determined by whether or not you can back up your answer with a reasonable argument.

"Two of the teams in this room are chuunin who have already passed the exam. One team that was failed for cheating did not cheat, and is currently taking a tenth question of their own. Identify these teams, and explain your reasoning. You have ten minutes."

Ino grinned, eyes flicking to the team she had pointed out at the beginning of the exam. "One," she said, taking a pencil a beginning to write. Sakura nodded, her own eyes flicking about the room. Where was the other chuunin team?

"There," Chouji said, and Sakura followed his slight gesture with her eyes.

"Why?" she asked quietly.

"They aren't working on the tenth question very hard," the stocky boy explained, "and the way the middle one is sitting. That's Shikamaru using the transformation technique."

"You're right," Ino said, glancing up momentarily. Her pencil flowed smoothly over the test paper as she added this to the answer.

"You're good at this," Sakura commented.

Ino grinned as she wrote. "Information gathering is one of our team's specialties. What about the other part?"

Sakura bit at her lip. "Probably Kiba's team," she said. "I don't have any firm evidence, but they aren't dumb enough to try cheating here."

Chouji nodded, and Ino pursed her lips in thought. "The examiners would want to wait until they were certain that the team they picked wouldn't really cheat," she said. "So it has to be one of the last few teams."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "It looked like they were on the last question when they were failed," she stated.

"They didn't act like they'd been caught cheating," Chouji added.

"It could be acting," Sakura said. If reasonableness of argument was the basis for points, one had to anticipate objections.

Ino raised an eyebrow. "Shino, maybe, but do you really think Hinata or Kiba could act that well?"

Sakura smiled slightly. "Probably not," she agreed. "Besides, if those three wanted to cheat on this they wouldn't get caught. They have too many advantages."

"All right," Ino said a few minutes later. "Done."

Sakura skimmed what her rival had written, and nodded. "We did it," she agreed.

A few minutes later, Genma stood once more. "This concludes the first part of the Chuunin Selection Exam. In a few moments, examiners will come around and collect your papers. After that, you are dismissed. Please return to this room at three o'clock this afternoon. Failure to arrive on time will result in immediate disqualification. That is all."

A few minutes later, Sakura and her team had made their way to a park close to the academy to wait. They made occasional smalltalk, but time still crawled with agonizing slowness. Sakura knew from the number of teams and her own confidence in their answers that they had almost certainly passed the first exam, but that didn't stop her from being nervous. Too much was riding on this for being almost certain to be sufficient.

As lunchtime neared, Sakura's stomach began to rumble, reminding her that she had missed breakfast. When she raised the issue of getting lunch, Ino groaned. "I'm so nervous I can't eat," she admitted. "I mean, I know we probably passed, but… you know?"

Sakura nodded, but her stomach growled at her again. She stood. "I'm going to go get something to eat anyway. Chouji?" she asked.

Chouji nodded. "I'll come." He grinned slightly. "We probably won't be getting much that's good to eat after today."

"Don't remind me," Ino groaned as she stood as well. "I'll probably puke, but I should at least try to eat something." After some discussion the three made their way to the Ichiraku ramen stand. Chouji, it turned out, was almost as fond of the place as Naruto, though in his case it seemed part of a more general appreciation for well made, cheaply priced food instead of a personal attachment. Sakura felt the urge to go there since six months ago Naruto had insisted on eating there for good luck after finishing the first exam, and together they overrode Ino's objections that she didn't particularly like ramen.

"Betrayed by my own teammate," Ino said with a sigh as she settled into her seat. Chouji just laughed as he placed a rather large order - though it was almost tiny compared to what Naruto would start off with when really hungry. The owner's daughter had already started making Sakura's usual, so the owner's attention turned to Ino next. "Whatever's best for a nervous stomach," the kunoichi said.

The owner nodded. "Something simple, then," he said as he busied himself. A short time later, all three ninja had been served.

"Do you mind if I join you?" a soft voice asked as someone entered the stand.

Sakura looked up, her eyes widening. "Ren-san!" she said, surprised.

The Mist kunoichi smiled as she seated herself slightly apart from Sakura's team. "Miso ramen please," she told the owner, who nodded and began to prepare it.

"Where's the rest of your team?" Ino asked, her voice suspicious.

"We split up so we could cover more ground," she said as she accepted her meal. "We only have a limited amount of time in your village, so we need to gather as much information as quickly as possible."

Chouji blinked. "That's a little… open," he commented.

Ren laughed softly. "It's not like you all don't know that we're going to do it, so there's no need to be furtive about it." She shrugged. "I'm sure some of your ANBU have been watching me, anyway, so it wouldn't do me any good."

For several moments, the four ninja ate in silence, until Sakura spoke. "I didn't see your team this morning, Ren-san."

Ren nodded. "Mitarashi-sensei threatened to bust us back to academy students if we caused any more trouble, so I had to keep Saburo and Midori away from you."

"I see," Sakura replied after a moment. It was weird, she thought. If she had expected anyone to be aiming for her, it would be Ren herself, not her teammates. Some of this must have shown on her face, because the Mist kunoichi laughed.

"I would enjoy a rematch with you, Sakura-san," she said, "but we agreed that there would be no hard feelings, yes? I don't bear any grudge; you won fairly." She grinned suddenly. "I think I've figured out your trick, though."

"I suppose we'll see," Sakura said. "If one of your teammates doesn't get to me first."

Ren's face turned serious. "I wouldn't worry overmuch about Saburo if I were you, Sakura-san. He talks big, but he just thinks you'd be interesting to fight, that's all. Midori's the one you should look out for."

All three ninja stared at her for a moment. "Why?" Sakura asked, but she wasn't certain whether she was asking why she should watch out for Midori or why Ren was giving her advice.

Ren sighed as she finished her small bowl of ramen. "I shouldn't say any more," she said, standing. Her mouth quirked into a smile. "I wish you three luck, at least until you come up against my team." Then she left.

At three o'clock, the remaining teams gathered back in room 301 of the academy building. Sakura spied the Mist team across the room, but true to Ren's story that team stayed well away from Sakura's. The next familiar set of faces Sakura saw was Uzuki Ami's team. The former bully gave Sakura a triumphant glare, and Sakura sighed. Ami had no idea what was coming, did she?

"There's Neji's team," Chouji commented, leading the way to a desk next to that trio. Ino and Sakura followed, and soon they had seated themselves. The names on the desks had already been removed, Sakura noted.

Neji nodded in greeting. "The easy part's done," he commented.

Tenten toyed with a kunai in a manner that reminded Sakura uncomfortably of Anko. "Now the fun can begin," she said.

"Yo," all six ninja looked up at Inuzuka Kiba's words as he walked over to them, his two teammates trailing behind. "Surprised?" he asked.

"Of course not," Ino said. "Part of the tenth question was to figure out which failing team hadn't really failed."

"What was your tenth question?" Sakura asked.

"The tenth question," Shino stated.

"That was… unhelpful," Tenten said.

"We had to figure out what the tenth question for the other teams was," Hinata explained.

Before anything else could be said, the front of the room was flooded with smoke again. When it cleared, gray-clad chuunin again lined the front wall, though this time Shikamaru was among them, instead of hiding among the students. Ino waved at her teammate, causing him to roll his eyes and mouth a word Sakura was almost certain was "troublesome."

In front of the chuunin stood Morino Ibiki. "The teams with insufficient scores have already been informed, and so the sixteen teams you all see here have passed the first part of the Chuunin Selection Exam." Excited murmurs filled the room. Ibiki grinned. "The real exam begins now. From this point on, there is a chance of injury or death. The chuunin behind me will pass out forms for you to sign stating that you understand and accept this. If you have any reservations, now is your last chance to pull out before the second exam begins."

"Won't you tell us what the second exam is first?" Inuzuka Shinta asked.

"No," Ibiki said simply.

"That isn't fair!" another genin protested.

"Fairness does not exist on missions," Ibiki responded, "so it has no place in the Chuunin Exam." The chuunin had already begun to circulate through the room, and when the time came Sakura signed without hesitation. It would be insane to back out now, and she noted without surprise that every team in the room stayed.

Once Ibiki had collected the forms, he nodded once before handing them to a chuunin, who vanished in a puff of smoke. "The second part of the Chuunin Selection Exam begins now. We will now proceed to the site of the exam, where we should arrive at dawn." Sakura's eyes widened. There would be no chance to rest or gather supplies.

"You are all instructed to treat this as a march during wartime through territory that has experienced enemy raids," Ibiki continued. "One of the chuunin behind me will be keeping an eye on your progress and is authorized to fail your team based on your performance. Any fighting will also result in immediate disqualification. I will not be taking any questions at this time."

Ibiki smiled grimly. "Chuunin, find your assigned teams and line them up by the door."

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings

1) So, I guess I sort of lied when I said Akatsuki would strike this chapter. Oh well. It's nothing compared to the title of episode 165 - "Naruto Dies!"

2) This chapter was kind of long. In fact, it has taken Chapter Three's place as the longest chapter in the story. Chapter Six, at least, shouldn't repeat this feat - it does only cover five days, even if they are rather eventful days.

3) As always, I welcome any and all comments. I do like to know that people are reading this story, and I try to respond to every comment - and I more or less have been, assuming review reply feature is working properly.

4) On a related note, if you're reading this on that site and have a question you want answered, please either leave a signed review or leave an e-mail address for me to write to. There's no way to answer an anonymous review that leaves no e-mail in a timely fashion.

5) To publicly answer what seems to be a relatively common question, One Hundred Days will, as the title implies, cover 100 days, though there will be a brief epilogue taking place about a week after Day One Hundred. I am aware that Naruto's training journey lasts much longer, but One Hundred Days will not cover all of it - and the remainder of the journey may or may not occur, as I'm not trying to match things up with Part 2 of the manga. That's a moving target that would be impossible to hit perfectly.

6) Next time, in One Hundred Days Chapter Six, Heaven and Earth: do I even need to say it? The second part of the Chuunin Exam!

Draft Started: January 4, 2006  
Draft Finished: January 23, 2006  
Draft Released: January 24, 2006


	7. Chapter 6: Heaven and Earth

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 6: Heaven and Earth

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, lions.

* * *

**Day Thirty-six**

"So it was Orochimaru," Hojo said quietly, "and not Akatsuki after all." He stared into his almost untouched cup of tea as though it held some secret. "You didn't tell me that snake was involved."

"I didn't know," Jiraiya said as he took a sip of his own tea. The two legendary ninja were in Hojo's private chambers. Jiraiya grimaced as he set his cup down. "Not for certain, anyway. I had no idea he'd try something so bold."

"Tsunade-hime and you should have dealt with him long ago," Hojo said.

"It isn't so simple," Jiraiya said. "It's really hard to say for sure at our level, but I think he's stronger than me, stronger than Tsunade, stronger than you. Even with all three of us, it wouldn't be an easy fight. Tsunade and I fought him a few months ago, and we weren't able to kill him." Jiraiya frowned. "Tsunade and I were handicapped, but he was crippled. I don't think the outcome would change if we fought again."

"I heard of that battle, even here," Hojo said. "There's already a half-dozen bards trying to add their new verses to the 'Tale of the Sannin.'"

Jiraiya groaned. "Don't mention that turgid abomination," he said.

Hojo laughed briefly, but then his face turned serious. "I'm glad Orochimaru isn't my problem. I shudder to think of what kind of situation we'd be in if he was still with Akatsuki."

"We're very lucky," Jiraiya said, "and not just for that. If it hadn't been for that falling out, I might not have heard of Akatsuki until it was too late." He laughed bitterly. "I hate to say it, but sometimes I have to thank the gods for Uchiha Itachi."

"I've heard something worrisome," Hojo said, "for you at least."

"About Itachi?" Jiraiya asked.

"No," Hojo said. "I received a messenger bird from the village last night. An ambassador from the Valley is in the Rock Village, expecting an emissary from the Sound to discuss peace."

"Already?" Jiraiya asked. "So the war with the Hill Country was a feint. Can you do anything to upset Orochimaru's timetable?"

"I've already done more than I should," Hojo said. "Most of the world applauded when the Sound took the Leaf down a notch. That includes the Earth Country." He sighed. "I owe that snake for what he did here, though. I'll delay the talks as much as possible."

"Thank you," Jiraiya said quietly. "What will happen to the Sound we captured?"

"The Tsuchikage will probably give them back to Orochimaru as a sign of good faith," Hojo said.

Jiraiya sighed. "There's nothing to be done, I suppose."

"Who was that kid who got away?" Hojo asked.

"Yakushi Kabuto," Jiraiya said. "He was Orochimaru's spymaster in the Leaf Village. He's a medical ninja and very strong for his age. He fought against Tsunade and survived, and that's a feat, even though Tsunade was out of practice. Kakashi-kun says he's at the same level as him, and I've seen no reason to disbelieve him."

"Sharingan Kakashi?" Hojo asked. When Jiraiya nodded, he sighed. "Where did this kid come from?"

"I wish I knew," Jiraiya said. "As a Leaf genin, he was rather poor. He must have been hiding his true strength, but I have no idea where he got his training."

"Speaking of medical ninja," Hojo said, "I just read the latest report from the infirmary. Kamizuru Jibachi was dead when he was found. Kamizuru Kurobachi died on the operating table. Kamizuru Suzumebachi is in critical condition and has burnt out her chakra circulatory system. If she survives, she'll never be a ninja again, not even if you brought Tsunade-hime here." Hojo's voice was dark.

"It was a war, Hojo," Jiraiya said. "I'm not proud of luring the Kamizuru to their destruction, but could you say you would have done any differently had the opportunity presented itself to remove the Aburame?"

Hojo looked away. "No, damn it, and that's why I hate it." He shook his head. "Uzumaki Naruto remains in stable condition, but has yet to awaken."

"It may be a while," Jiraiya said. "And your students?"

"Fine," Hojo answered. "Humbled, but fine." He paused. "What will you do, Jiraiya?"

"As soon as possible," Jiraiya answered, "I'm going to take Naruto to Lightning Country. Straight to the Cloud Village, if I can manage it."

"I see," Hojo answered after a moment. "Calling in another favor?"

"Yes," Jiraiya answered. "If I'd known Naruto was capable of that sort of manifestation, I would have taken him to her immediately, instead of coming here." Jiraiya grimaced. "I know that seal inside and out. The Kyuubi's chakra can leak through, but nothing like that should even be possible."

"Is the seal weakening?" Hojo asked.

"I intend to find out," Jiraiya answered. "I might have to leave Naruto behind to do some research, but where we're going I don't think Akatsuki would risk attacking. Not yet, anyway."

"I will arrange for traveling papers," Hojo said. "You will be mercenaries who just finished a contract with the Rock, looking for more work."

"Thank you," Jiraiya said. "I would do it myself, but that would attract the wrong sort of attention."

Hojo rose. "Jiraiya," he said simply.

"Yes?" Jiraiya asked.

"I beg you," Hojo said. "I believe I know what that boy might mean to you, but if it looks like the Kyuubi will break loose, for the sake of the world kill the boy before that can happen."

* * *

The long march had not been at all relaxing, even though in other circumstances Sakura might have enjoyed a hike through the forested hills east of the Leaf Village. They had not stopped for dinner, nor had they halted when the sun sank below the horizon. Around midnight, the chuunin leading Sakura's team had vanished briefly, and they had been "attacked" by four other ninja to test their reactions. Now, just after dawn, they had reached their destination.

A low, new-looking chain fence stood atop the next hill, stretching out of sight both to the left and right. The sixteen teams that had made it to the second exam formed up in front of a gate, labeled with the number one. Morino Ibiki leaned nonchalantly against the gate as the genin arrived and were lined up, straightening once all this was complete.

"I suppose I should introduce myself," he said. "I am Morino Ibiki, and as you should have deduced by now I am the examiner for the second part of the Chuunin Exam. I will now explain the rules for the second exam. No questions will be accepted." There was some grumbling at that among the genin. "Silence!" Ibiki said. "I will only explain this once.

"This exam is a test of survival and combat skills," Ibiki continued. "It takes the form of a battle for control of these scrolls." He held up a white scroll. "The Heaven Scroll." He replaced it with a dark scroll. "The Earth Scroll." He slipped the scroll back into a pocket. "Behind me is the Hidden Village of the Leaf's newest large scale training ground. It is a fifteen kilometer wide circle, and at the center lies a fortress once used for interrogation and detention of prisoners. To proceed to the third exam, your team must bring one Heaven Scroll and one Earth Scroll to the center courtyard of that fortress on the fifth day of the exam."

"That's it?" a Sand genin asked.

Ibiki grinned. "It won't be that simple. There are eight Heaven Scrolls and eight Earth Scrolls hidden in the training ground." Sakura frowned. That made things at the same time more difficult and easier than last time. You had to find both scrolls, but it would be possible to finish the exam without getting into any fights. Ibiki continued, "Each team will be given a map of the training ground showing the location of one scroll. There will be one other team given the same map."

That meant that half the scrolls would be on a map, Sakura figured quickly, leaving half completely hidden. Assuming an even mix of Heaven and Earth in the revealed scrolls, only a quarter of the teams could pass if no one found a scroll on their own. If all the scrolls were found, half of the sixteen teams would be able to pass. In either case, the half of the teams that could get their assigned scroll would have an immense advantage.

Ibiki was not done. "I will now explain the conditions for failure. If you do not bring a Heaven and an Earth scroll to the center courtyard of the fortress by noon on the fifth day of the exam, your team will be failed. If any members of a team are killed or unable to make it to the center courtyard by that time, the remaining members will be failed. If you leave the training area at any time, your team will be failed. If you open either a Heaven or Earth scroll, your team will be failed. If you attempt to enter the fortress before the fifth day, your team will failed."

So it wasn't possible to finish early. Sakura nodded to herself. Even if you found a Heaven and an Earth scroll without fighting, you would have to protect yourself from the other teams for the duration of the exam. There was no easy way through this exam. Sakura smiled slightly. It was only to be expected, and this time she was ready. She patted the kunai sheathed on her leg and opened her pouch of ninja tools, double-checking her stores of equipment. It was lucky she'd gathered most of it before the three o'clock meeting yesterday, though she thought longingly of the heavy pack of food and spare equipment that was sitting in Naruto's apartment At least all the other teams were in the same situation.

"I'm going to give you one piece of advice," Ibiki said. "This exam can be a matter of life and death. I suggest you treat it that way." The special jounin raised a hand. "Chuunin, take your assigned teams to their entrance gates. The second part of the Chuunin Selection Exam will commence in precisely one hour!"

A bit over half an hour later, Sakura and her team were sitting in front of a gate labeled nine, pouring over the map they had been given. As expected, it showed only the broad terrain features - the large lake about halfway between their gate and the fortress, some of the larger hills, and the few clearings of any significant size. It wasn't that different from the Forest of Death, in terrain at least. The scroll they had been informed of - the map made no note of what type it was - lay not far into the training ground, about equidistant from gate nine and the gate to its left.

"That'll be where the other team comes from," Ino said. "It wouldn't be fair any other way."

"Morino-sensei doesn't seem to be the type to care about fairness," Sakura commented.

"In that case, we'll have an advantage," Chouji rumbled, "but if Shikamaru were here he'd say that we should plan for the worst case."

After a moment, Sakura nodded. "Right," she said. "Let's assume it's a race to the scroll right from the start."

"We aren't built for speed," Ino said. "We can't guarantee we'll win a race. They might have the scroll before we even get halfway there."

"If the other team is that much faster than us," Sakura said, "there's not much we can do." She clicked her tongue. "This is vexing. If we knew who the other team was, there's so much more we could plan."

"I don't suppose you could tell us anything, Examiner-san?" Ino asked the chuunin who was leaning against the gate.

The examiner laughed. "It's more than my job is worth," he said. "I think you three can work something out, though. I certainly hope so. I've got half my pay from this whole exam riding on you passing this part."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Ino said, "but why?"

"Because that's how Shikamaru-kun bet," the examiner answered. He laughed suddenly. "Don't tell anyone about the betting pool, please," he said. "It's sort of an open secret, but if Ibiki-sama knew about it officially, he'd have to do something unpleasant."

"At least he isn't Mitarashi-sensei," Sakura said dryly, and the chuunin shuddered theatrically.

Ino snapped her fingers. "That's it!" she said. "That's what's been bothering me!"

"What?" Chouji asked.

"That Ren girl," Ino explained. "She said her teacher was Mitarashi-sensei, and I couldn't remember where I heard that name before."

"That's an odd coincidence," Chouji said. Sakura glanced away.

"You know something?" Ino asked.

Sakura sighed. "The Mist team's jounin teacher is Mitarashi Kimi, our Mitarashi-sensei's older sister." Even the chuunin gazed curiously at her. "It's a long story, and it isn't mine to tell," Sakura finished.

The chuunin sighed as he looked up into the air, eyes focusing on a speck hovering over the forested hills. "It's almost time," he said, stepping away from the gate and pulling out a key. "Get ready, you three, and good luck."

Ino reached into her pouch, pulling out two small, black bundles. "Sakura," she said, tossing one to her. "You're the fastest of us."

Sakura gazed curiously at the radio headset. "How'd you get these?" The electronic devices were not standard equipment and were extremely expensive, particularly compared to a genin's pay.

"My dad loaned them to me," Ino said. "I was only able to get the one pair, though, and you better not lose that one. If you do, I'm making you pay for it."

Sakura nodded. "You want me to scout and find the other team," she said.

"Bingo," Ino replied as she put on her radio. Sakura followed suit, then tested to make sure the earpiece was firmly attached before tapping the microphone by her mouth.

Ino winced, reaching up to adjust the volume on her headset. "It definitely works," she said. Now it was Sakura's turn to frantically adjust the volume.

The chuunin suddenly unlocked the gate, stepping aside. "Begin," he said dryly, and before the word had faded the three genin had passed him in a blur of motion. Smiling, he shut the gate behind them and relocked it. His hands formed a single seal. "Release!" There was a puff of smoke, and Mitarashi Anko smiled at the gate. "Don't let me down, Sakura-chan," she said.

"Did you have fun?" Morino Ibiki said as he walked out from behind a tree.

Anko grinned. "You're lucky I'm in a good mood, or I'd remind you why I warn people not to sneak up on me."

"Should I tell you how many rules you just broke?" Ibiki asked dryly. "I'm going to have to send a chuunin to make sure that snake you summoned doesn't interfere."

Anko pouted. "It won't," she promised. "If I wanted to interfere, I'd have summoned some big ones like I do when I'm running this exam. That little one's just so I can watch the fun."

"I figured as much," Ibiki said. "I'll let it pass on one condition."

"Oh?" Anko asked.

"You have to share," he said, smiling slightly. "There's one of the Third's old seeing-glasses in one of the towers of the detention center, and I'm sure you can figure out how to link whatever you're getting from the snake to that."

Anko grinned. "Deal," she said.

Ibiki nodded. He turned to walk away, then paused. "You didn't do anything permanent to Hijiri-kun, I hope," he said.

Anko snorted. "He'll have the world's biggest hangover when he wakes up today, and a formal reprimand when I get back to the village, but that's all."

"Good," Ibiki said, before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

* * *

Five minutes into the second exam, Sakura split from her teammates, jumping from tree to tree on a route that would presumably intercept the other team heading for their scroll. That is, if all their assumptions were accurate. Sakura hated trying to act on this little information, but there wasn't really any choice. Ino and Chouji were heading as quickly as they could toward the scroll's location, and they were depending on her to tell them what they needed to do.

"Remember," Ino said over the radio, "the range on these things isn't very good. Don't go too far afield."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I know, Ino-pig," she whispered into her microphone. "I went to the same classes as you." Setting Ino's annoying mothering aside, Sakura began to consider precisely how she would find the other team. She was faster than Ino and Chouji, yes, but she wasn't that fast in the grand scheme of things. A speedy team could be at the scroll before she ever crossed their path.

"I'm an idiot," Sakura muttered to herself, stopping suddenly.

"What's that?" Ino said, and Sakura groaned as she realized she'd forgotten the headset was on.

"Nothing," she said as she seated herself on the branch she had stopped on, sitting cross-legged and rapidly taking off her weights. There wasn't any point in handicapping herself here. Sakura lay the weights carefully on the branch, then stood again. When she leapt to the next tree, she almost missed, not realizing how much farther she could jump without the weights. Within a minute, though, she had adjusted and was marveling at how much faster she could move unhindered.

Still, she was concerned about finding the other team. With no data on the other team's speed, she had no way to know where along their presumed path to start looking. She could miss them entirely if she guessed wrong. If only there was someway she could be in more than one place at once. Some useful way, she corrected herself. The replication technique let her be in several places at once, but the replications only lasted a few moments and couldn't travel far from her real self.

It was best to assume that the other team was fast, Sakura decided as she changed the angle of her approach. If she overestimated their speed, a slow team would still eventually reach her. If she underestimated it, they would be at the scroll before she realized her mistake. She wished she'd thought to ask Asuma if he knew any tracking techniques she could learn.

She shook her head, her smooth motion through the trees never stopping. There wasn't any point in thinking that way. It was too late to wish for that kind of thing. She had the skills she had, and she would have to do the best she could with them. Tracking hadn't been her best skill in the academy, but she hadn't flunked those classes either. She stopped suddenly, her eyes flicking to the ground.

A clear footprint was visible in a muddy patch at the foot of her current tree. An amateur mistake, but not unthinkable if the other team was concentrating on speed. The other team was ahead of her, then. She would have to slow down and keep an eye out for traps now. Already Sakura's green eyes were flicking about, searching for any sign of them.

"Ino," she said quietly. "Where are you?"

"About halfway," her rival's voice came back. "What's happening?"

"The other team is ahead of me," Sakura said. "They're going to reach the scroll first." Ino cursed. "Hurry up," Sakura continued. "If I can I'll try to slow them down." With that, Sakura began to move again, following the other team's path. Fortunately, they were too much in a hurry for traps, and they weren't that fast. Sakura was able to close the distance with them rapidly, and she was only a few moments behind when they entered the clearing the map said should hold a scroll.

It was difficult for Sakura to keep quiet when she got her first clear glimpse of the other genin team. What were the odds that her teams would keep running into this batch? Team Seven had fought this team twice, once in the last Chuunin Exam and once in the Tea Country. Sakura's eyes narrowed as she studied the three white-clad Rain genin searching the clearing below her hidden perch in a high tree branch. They weren't that strong, but they were strong enough that she couldn't take on all three by herself. She'd have to fight a delaying action, then. Sakura smiled to herself. She had no problem coming up with a plan. Maybe if the opportunity presented itself she'd thank the Rain genin for giving it to her. Sakura carefully began to draw up as much chakra as she could. She was going to need it.

Below, the Rain team had found the scroll at the bottom of a puddle that was much deeper than it seemed. Sakura only caught a glimpse of the white Heaven Scroll, but she carefully noted which Rain ninja had it. That information would come in handy. The Rain genin briefly argued amongst themselves over whether it was a good idea to wait and ambush the other team heading for the scroll, but decided against it.

As they left the clearing, Sakura formed the last seal for the technique she had been preparing all the while. She sighed in relief as the Rain genin's path on the forest floor began to curve around, back toward the clearing. She'd performed this technique in practice several times, but this was the first time she'd used it for real.

The Rain genin stopped suddenly, even before they'd completed one full circuit. "Genjutsu," one hissed, and Sakura frowned. She'd been hoping the technique would keep them traveling in circles for much longer. She'd have to move to the riskier part of the plan, then. "Hurry, Ino," she whispered into her microphone. Without waiting for a reply, she leapt to another tree, her hands racing through familiar seals as she moved.

Moments later, several Sakura walked out of the woods surrounding the enemy team, encircling them. "You again," one of the Rain ninja said, laughing slightly. "Where're the other two?" he continued. "You can't beat us by yourself."

None of the Sakura answered. Instead one slowly pulled out a kunai and deliberately tossed it at the speaker. He laughed. "Trying to beat us at our own game?" he said as he sidestepped the kunai. Then the real kunai, coming from another direction, hit him in the arm, and he cursed.

"Care to guess which kunai will be real this time?" one Sakura asked as they all pulled out kunai. The wounded Rain ninja pulled Sakura's kunai out of his arm, hurling it at another Sakura, who just leaned aside, letting it fly into the underbrush. As one, the circle of Sakura released their weapons. A real kunai plunged through one Rain ninja's chest, passing through him as though he wasn't there at all.

Unearthly laughter filled the air as the three Rain ninja blurred, becoming dozens. "There's three of us and only one of you," one said. "Using cheap versions of our own tricks won't let you beat us."

Still in the trees, the real Sakura frowned. She remembered this technique from the last time, and she'd studied some scrolls with a few details on it. Unlike normal replications, the ones created by the Haze Replication Technique didn't disperse when hit. The disadvantages were that the technique was more difficult to perform and that the replications had to be guided much like her Perfect Replication Technique, rather than being able to act on their own like an ordinary or shadow replication. That meant, thankfully, that the Rain ninja would have to stay in the area to direct the haze clones.

Sakura still had to find the real ones, though, or she would soon be in a bad situation. The only advantage she had was that they hadn't seemed to realize that she was only trying to delay them until Ino and Chouji could arrive. She had wounded one of them, so she searched for any sign of blood. She quickly found a short trail of crimson on the forest floor that vanished only a foot or so after it started. Were the Rain ninja underground like six months ago? She'd need to find a way to lure them out.

Keeping the Perfect Replication Technique active was a waste of her limited chakra. She couldn't make the fake clones act like they were physical when she didn't know which attacks were real. Even as the fake Rain ninja began to hurl kunai to hide the actual attack, Sakura let her technique drop. The Rain ninja below froze, adjusting to this sudden change.

"Running away?" came a Rain ninja's voice, but Sakura ignored it. That one moment of frozen surprise had given her what she needed to know. She pulled out another kunai, then reached into her pouch for an explosive tag, the most powerful she had. After carefully wrapping the tag around the hilt, she hurled the kunai into the center of the horde of strange clones.

The explosion shook the forest, but when the smoke cleared there was only a crater surrounded by completely unaffected clones, with no sign of the real Rain ninja. Sakura grimaced. They must have realized she had noticed the arms sticking out from the ground to attack and moved before she could capitalize on it. She resisted the urge to curse as she realized the alternative - that they had deliberately feigned that moment of frozen surprise to lure her into revealing her position.

"Now we know where you are, little Leaf," a Rain ninja said as the clones - and presumably the real ninja as well, to best capitalize on her mistake - began to circle around the tree Sakura was hidden in, before she could move away. "You should have run when you had the chance."

"We're here." Sakura almost started at the unexpected sound of Ino's voice. "Can you do something to whittle down the replications?"

Sakura thought quickly, then smiled. The scrolls she had read said that the Haze Replication Technique, though not quite a true water element technique, manipulated water vapor to create the clones. That meant that she might have a counter. She wasn't certain, but it was better than any other option. She formed seals. "Mist Concealment Technique!" she shouted, channeling as much chakra as she could.

Below her, most of the Rain ninja began to twist and deform, coils of thick gray mist pouring out of their bodies. There was something struggling against Sakura's technique, keeping the mist from escaping entirely and forming an obscuring carpet, but that was actually for the best. The three Rain ninja who weren't half-dissolved into mist were clearly visible.

Chouji, bulked up to impressive size, rolled into them, bowling them over and smashing one up against a tree. The stocky ninja stopped rolling, pinning that ninja with one massive hand. The other two started to run, but before they could reach cover Ino's voice shouted, "Paralysis Technique!" One enemy ninja stopped in his tracks. The haze clones vanished, and with them the mist Sakura had been creating began to fade.

Sakura smiled as she jumped to the forest floor in front of the last enemy, forming a seal in one hand. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" The Rain ninja danced back, avoiding the tendrils of flame that sprouted from Sakura's other hand. Sakura struck out, driving the Rain ninja back. Then one of Chouji's gigantic hands slammed the white-clad ninja into the ground. He didn't rise.

Ino panted as she emerged from the underbrush, still holding the last seal for the Paralysis Technique. "What now?" she said.

Sakura glanced and confirmed her guess that Chouji had knocked the ninja he'd pushed against the tree unconscious as well, then turned to the ninja trapped by Ino's technique. She raised her hand, positioning the tips of her flames mere inches from the captured ninja's chest. "The Heaven Scroll," she said simply. "You were carrying it, I believe."

The Rain ninja managed to nod against the force of Ino's technique. "Take it," he choked out, one hand twitching as it pointed at where he had hidden the scroll. Sakura released her technique - and not a moment too soon, as it was difficult for her to keep the Claw of the Fire Dragon active for long in the best of times. She quickly searched the frozen ninja, then nodded as she stepped back, holding the prize in her hands.

Then Chouji's fist sent the last Rain ninja to join his teammates in slumber. "That wasn't too bad," he said. Ino just sighed as she relaxed, releasing the seal she'd been holding.

"Only because they were too stupid to realize that I had teammates coming or plain overconfident in thinking they could beat us all," Sakura said as she sat down, exhaustion overtaking her. She'd used up way too much chakra in that fight. "If they'd just run instead of trying to play with me, we'd be in a bad situation."

"We can't rest here," Ino said after a moment. "They might wake up any minute. Let's get moving."

"Where to?" Sakura asked.

"I guess toward the center," Chouji commented. "That's where we can probably find the other teams that have a scroll."

After a moment, Sakura nodded, forcing herself to rise. "I'll scout ahead for ambushes and traps, then," she said. "We might as well take advantage of these headsets."

"Will you be okay?" Ino asked.

Sakura's eyes were hard. "I'll have to be, won't I?"

* * *

Inuzuka Kiba was, rightfully he felt, feeling very confident as his team moved silently through the forest toward the scroll for which they'd been given the location. He'd been worried that the second exam would prove radically different; he'd heard of exams where it had taken the form of a series of three-on-three matches in a small, heavily trapped arena. While he was confident his team could make it through such an exam, it didn't play to their strengths quite as much as this format.

The changes from the last exam actually made things easier for them. If there was any team that could find one of the hidden scrolls, it was his. Between Shino's bugs, Hinata's Byakugan, and Akamaru and his noses, there wasn't much that could escape their notice. Those same advantages would serve them well in avoiding other teams until the fifth day once they had both scrolls. It was hard to ambush a team that would know you were coming long before you knew they were there, after all.

Kiba grinned to himself as he followed Shino, landing lightly on the next tree branch. Yes, the second exam wasn't going to be any more difficult than last year's. He wondered idly whether enough teams would pass that there would need to be another preliminary round. Probably not, he judged. There weren't as many teams that had made it to the second exam, after all. Seven teams had passed last time, out of a possible thirteen. Only eight teams could pass this time, and that was only if all the scrolls were found. The real number would probably be smaller than that.

Akamaru whined softly from his perch on Kiba's shoulder, and Kiba stopped moving. "You sure?" he asked.

Hinata landed beside him on the branch. "Is something wrong, Kiba-kun?" Shino paused on the branch ahead, glancing back at his teammates.

After listening to Akamaru a few moments longer, Kiba nodded to himself. "Akamaru says that some ninja stopped here about a day ago. It smells like that to me, too." Now what was that about? It would have been before the exam had begun, so it couldn't be another team. Kiba smiled as the answer occurred to him.

"Hinata," Shino said sharply.

The kunoichi nodded. "Right," she said as she formed a seal. "Byakugan!" Her eyes scanned the surrounding forest, taking in every detail. "There," she concluded after a moment, pointing down at a patch of grass near the foot of the tree she and Kiba stood on.

Kiba leapt down to the ground, landing smoothly beside the grass. Now that he looked at it closely, he could easily tell that it had been disturbed. He brushed it aside, revealing the small hole that had been dug there. Grinning triumphantly, he pulled out a small, dark scroll. "One Earth Scroll," he declared. "We're halfway there!"

Hinata smiled softly, but Shino just jumped to a branch on the next tree over. "Let's move," he stated, and a moment later his teammates were once again following him. Well used to Shino's techniques, they were able to spot the bugs slowly creeping out from under his jacket and flying into the air. More importantly, they knew what it meant. They were getting close to where Shino expected trouble to start.

Despite this, they reached where the scroll they had been assigned was supposed to be easily enough, without any sign of another team reaching their keen senses. Again, Hinata's Byakugan proved invaluable in locating the scroll, positioned in the crown of a short tree. It was with some disappointment that Kiba stared at the scroll once it had been retrieved.

"An Earth Scroll," Shino said quietly, accepting the scroll. Barely visible in his pockets, one of his hands twitched slightly. Kiba and Hinata knew instantly what he meant, but they showed no sign.

Kiba knelt, setting Akamaru down. "Good boy," he said. "It's been a pretty productive day thanks to you." Hinata smiled as she drew near, kneeling beside him and petting the dog. Shino wandered off, seemingly lost in thought.

Then almost a dozen kunai struck his teammates, one even pinning Akamaru to the ground. A male voice cursed loudly when there were three puffs of smoke, revealing the two logs and one branch that had actually been hit. Shino stood still, seemingly unconcerned.

"Piercing Fang!" Kiba's voice rang out. Letting out another curse, the ninja leapt from his perch in a nearby tree to dodge the oncoming Leaf ninja, pulling out a kunai as he landed. It didn't avail him, as Hinata was waiting for him a few steps behind his landing point. A single Gentle Fist strike to his back, and the enemy ninja stumbled forward, falling to his knees.

Shino walked over to him and Kiba jumped down to stand beside his teammate. Shino gazed without concern at the fallen foe's Waterfall forehead protector. After a moment, Kiba pulled out a kunai and placed it at the enemy's neck.

"We have your teammate," Shino declared, staring off into the forest. "Come out where we can see you."

For several seconds the forest was still, then the other two Waterfall ninja, a boy and a girl, stepped into sight. The kunoichi held a naginata ready as she glared at her fallen teammate. "Since when did you let a single hit knock you out of a fight, Ikkei-kun?" she asked.

Ikkei grinned nervously, his eyes never leaving the kunai at his throat. "It wasn't a normal hit, Maya," he said dryly.

"We're here," the other male Waterfall ninja said, his blue eyes cold as his hand hovered over what was no doubt a hidden weapon. "What do you want?" As though prompted by his words, Maya fell into a fighting stance, though a mostly defensive one.

"We want to be able to search for the Heaven Scroll without being unnecessarily delayed," Shino responded. "We have you at a disadvantage, but not an insurmountable one." He pulled out the Earth Scroll his team had just acquired. "This is yours."

"What?" Maya asked, startled.

The other free Waterfall ninja's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

Kiba smiled. "Well, the Leaf and the Waterfall are allies."

"Everyone here's an ally, except for the Mist," the Waterfall ninja responded.

Ikkei laughed nervously. "Don't try and talk them out of it, Arata," he said.

"Don't be an idiot, Ikkei-kun," Maya answered.

"Hinata," Shino said, and the Leaf kunoichi briefly pulled out the other Earth Scroll.

"I see," Arata said after a moment. He nodded, and Maya's naginata vanished in a puff of smoke.

Shino nodded back at him, placing his Earth Scroll on the ground. He nodded once as Hinata walked over to him. In one smooth motion, Kiba released Ikkei, leaping backward to land besides his teammates. At a gesture from Arata, Ikkei walked over to the Earth Scroll, picking it up and carefully making sure it was real. When Ikkei nodded, the Waterfall ninja relaxed.

"Thank you," Maya said after a moment.

Shino just nodded. "You owe us," he stated simply, and then the Leaf team vanished.

* * *

**Day Thirty-seven**

Ino, Sakura, and Chouji had not encountered any other enemy teams for the remainder of the first day. Chouji knew that this was a good thing, for while he had still been in fairly good shape though already somewhat famished, between the long night march, the race for the scroll, and the brief fight Ino and Sakura had been in no condition for another battle. Chouji was actually a little surprised that Sakura had been able to perform the scouting duties she'd assigned herself. His temporary teammate had fought the longest of the three of them, but despite clearly being exhausted had not let up until the three had stopped for the night. Where had she gotten the stamina from?

By mutual, unspoken agreement, Chouji and Ino had split what should have been Sakura's watch in the middle of the night. This had caused a small argument when the pink-haired girl had awoken in the morning. Sakura had been furious, insisting that she wasn't going to be a burden and that she could hold her own weight. It hadn't been until Ino had angrily pointed out that her rival had traveled almost twice as far as the other two members of the team because of her scouting and had therefore needed more rest - though not in such polite words - that Sakura had backed down.

As he followed Ino through the trees, Chouji idly wondered why that had touched such a nerve with his temporary teammate. Had he been the one in need of extra rest, he'd have been the first to suggest that solution. It was only common sense. It wasn't like Sakura hadn't done anything yesterday; quite to the contrary she'd contributed the most of the three of them. Yet it seemed that Sakura was so unreasonably scared of not living up to their expectations that she hadn't been able to see that.

With an unusual flash of insight, Chouji thought of who Sakura's teammates had been, and realized that it might not be Ino and his expectations she was afraid of not meeting. Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto had, one as a matter of course and one despite all expectations, become two of the most exceptional genin of their generation. Chouji hadn't known Sakura - or any of the girls for that matter - well in the academy, but even then he had noticed that Sakura had a very competitive spirit. Her daily feuds with Ino had proved that. What was it like, for someone like that to be with teammates like that? He smiled slightly as he glanced at Ino. Probably even worse than someone like Ino being stuck with Shikamaru and him.

"What's so funny?" Ino asked, glancing back at Chouji, who just shrugged. Ino sighed. "I hope Forehead isn't going to burn herself out," she said. "She won't do us a damn bit of good if she doesn't pace herself."

Chouji didn't bother to comment. Ino was completely transparent, sometimes, though he'd never quite been able to figure out how she could care so much about someone who she clearly couldn't stand. It wasn't worth pointing out to her just how obvious it was that she was worried about her rival, though. The results of that would be loud and, as Shikamaru would say, troublesome.

Ino turned her microphone on. "Sakura," she whispered, just loudly enough that Chouji could make it out. "I think we're about to come up on that stream you mentioned. Come on back and let's figure out what we're going to do next." Though Chouji couldn't hear Sakura's response, it must have been affirmative, since Ino didn't say anything else.

The pair reached the stream in question less than a minute later, pausing on a high branch overhanging the water. Chouji took advantage of the break to pull out one of his carefully rationed bags of potato chips, silently and swiftly consuming precisely one quarter of the bag before returning it to his pouch. As he looked up from his snack he frowned. Mist was beginning to gather over the water below, and the weather was wrong for that.

As the mist began to thicken and unnaturally rise high in the air towards the two ninja's perch, Chouji stood, glancing at Ino. The kunoichi nodded. "Mist Concealment Technique. Forehead better not be playing at something." Her hand rested easily on the hilt of a kunai.

Moments before the mist became impenetrable, the two Leaf ninja sensed a figure hurling itself at them. Ino and Chouji separated to dodge the oncoming attacker, who landed lightly on the branch. Then a male voice shouted from another tree, "Suicide Water Replication Technique!" The figure crouched between them pulsed briefly, then exploded into a gigantic blast of water. The force knocked Chouji and Ino from their perches, sending them plummeting to the water below.

Chouji reacted quickly. "Partial Multi-Size Technique!" he roared. One of his arms swelled, reaching out to grab a thick branch protruding from a tree on the other side of the river. With incredible strength, he swung himself around in midair before retracting his arm, planning to land on the branch. Then he saw the Mist ninja kneeling on a higher branch on the same tree.

Grinning widely, Aoki Saburo pulled out a small canister about the size of a scroll container. With one fast motion he hurled it at Chouji. His hands raced through seals. "Suiton: Water Explosive Technique!" Moments before hitting Chouji, the canister exploded into another blast of water, knocking Chouji away.

Ino, who had safely landed on a branch underneath the one she'd been knocked from, shouted, "Chouji!" She leapt into the air, reaching into her pouch for wire.

Before she could do any more, a lithe figure interposed herself, one hand held out while the other formed a familiar one-handed seal. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" Eyes widening, Ino was forced to use the wire to pull herself out of the way, rather than rescuing her teammate. Despite this, a tendril of flame struck Ino's side, eliciting a scream of pain and knocking her off course. Shimano Ren rebounded off of a tree trunk and struck again, this time severing the wire Ino was using to guide her path. The Leaf kunoichi flew off, plummeting into the carpet of mist below.

Meanwhile, Chouji had recovered his senses and again used his Partial Multi-Size Technique to arrest his fall and launch himself into the air. He didn't have time to consider Ino's plight as he flew at Saburo, forming seals. "Multi-Size Technique!" Saburo's eyes widened as the Leaf ninja suddenly became much larger. Reconsidering his position, the Mist ninja leapt away.

Chouji hit the branch, which barely resisted his momentum before breaking. He grabbed at another branch, which also snapped. Rather than release his technique, Chouji let himself crash through the branches, slowing his descent as best he could. When he landed by the riverbank, a particularly sturdy branch held like a club in one hand, the earth shook. A moment later, the two Mist ninja landed, much more lightly, in front of him.

The grin hadn't left Saburo's face. "Let's do this," he said, his hand resting on another canister of water.

"Saburo," he teammate said coldly. "He's trying to keep us busy until Sakura-san arrives. The other girl must have their scroll." She took a step forward. "You're the better tracker. Go after her, and I'll hold him off." After a moment, Saburo nodded, tensing to leap away.

"It won't be so easy," Chouji roared, hurling his unwieldy club like a spear at the male Mist ninja.

"Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" Ren's flames swept the improvised missile out of the air, breaking it in two and sending the smoldering halves crashing to the ground. "Go, Saburo," she said, releasing her technique.

Before the other male ninja could move, Chouji's arms and legs retracted themselves into his over-sized clothing, barely visible wisps of chakra replaced them. His head vanished next, but his roar of "Human Bullet Tank!" was clearly audible as he began to roll.

Ren's eyes widened. "Go!" she shouted again, and Saburo finally complied. She quickly traced a line in the earth with her foot before leaping backward, her hands forming through seals. "Katon: Fire Dragon Barrier!" Fire burst from the earth along the line her foot had traveled, briefly forming draconic shapes before becoming a towering inferno.

Chouji's roll stopped instantly as he reversed direction, his once again extended arms and legs throwing up huge clouds of dust as he skidded backward, away from the flames. "Odd to see a Mist ninja using fire element techniques," he commented. That she shared one of those techniques with Sakura was even odder, but that was a question for another time. There were more pressing matters to be dealt with now.

The flames Ren had summoned vanished, leaving only scorched earth to show that they had been there. The kunoichi was breathing heavily, and she didn't say anything in response. Clearly that technique had used up a not inconsiderable amount of her chakra. Despite this, a kunai was in her hand, and she was ready to fight.

Chouji's massive hands formed a giant seal. He'd show her a fire element technique, and if he was lucky he'd burn away some of this mist, also. He inhaled deeply, filling his over-sized lungs with air. "Katon: Fireball Technique!"

* * *

Ino acted quickly as she fell through the thick mist. In the distance she could hear the sound of Chouji fighting, but she had no time to consider it. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she pulled another metal wire out, rapidly tying it around the hilt of a kunai. With pinpoint accuracy she hurled the weapon at a massive tree trunk, barely visible through the shroud of mist. Almost instantly, her fall halted, becoming a rapid swing toward the tree. The wire cut at her hands, but Ino ignored the pain, shifting her weight so that she landed lightly on a low branch.

She could no longer hear the sounds of battle, and with the mist she wasn't certain just where she was relative to where she had been mere moments ago. Cursing softly, she turned on her microphone. "Sakura," she whispered, "where the hell are you?"

She could hear Sakura breathing heavily. "I'm a little busy, Ino-pig," she muttered softly.

"I don't care," Ino replied, barely able to keep her voice quiet. "We just got ambushed by two of those Mist!"

"Well, I'm taking care of number three. So shut up and do your part." Her rival's voice was very strained. Whatever was going on, it seemed Midori - that had been the other Mist kunoichi's name, Ino recalled - was giving Sakura a hard time. Ino turned her microphone off. Once all this was over, she'd give Forehead an earful about just how worthless her scouting had turned out to be, but not now. Sakura didn't need that just now, clearly.

Not that Ino had the time to waste berating her rival at the moment, either. It was hard to tell in the mist, but she thought she could see someone moving through the trees above, and he wasn't anything close to the right body type to be Chouji. Ino silently leapt from her perch to the ground, her hands flickering as she created replications. Neither Ren nor Saburo had seemed a pushover. She needed to distract whichever it was so that she could attack from ambush.

Ino's replications moved openly and loudly as they split from the real Ino's path. Even as Ino dove into a patch of underbrush, a kunai struck one replication. Ino couldn't see the puff of white smoke through the mist, but she knew it meant her foe was drawing close. Her hands filled with shuriken as she waited. A moment later, Aoki Saburo leapt into her field of vision, and the shuriken flew.

Moments before they would have hit, Saburo's form exploded into a burst of water. Ino's eyes widened as she heard a soft thud behind her, but she didn't waste time being shocked. She instantly sprung from her hiding place and whirled around, a kunai in her hands. Saburo grinned at her. "I haven't got any problem with you," he said lightly. "Hand over your scroll, and I'll let you go."

Ino snorted at the offer, throwing her weapon at the Mist ninja. She knew he would dodge it, but it freed her hands, which raced through familiar seals. "Paralysis -"

Before she could complete the technique, Saburo charged, forcing her to abandon it and back away. She blocked his first, wild punch, but her counterattack was effortlessly deflected. Saburo's leg swept out, trying to knock her off her feet. Ino leapt away, reaching for shuriken. Saburo pressed his attack and didn't give her enough time to retrieve a weapon, launching into a rapid sequence of attacks that Ino needed both hands free to fend off.

Unexpectedly, Saburo leapt away, his hands forming seals. After a split-second of thought, Ino drew a kunai and charged, slicing at the Mist ninja's face. Surprised at her sudden aggression, Saburo stumbled backward, abandoning whatever technique he had been about to use. A kunai of his own appeared in his hands, and he grinned again as he briefly locked blades with Ino. "Not bad," he commented. "Not as good as Ren-chan, but not bad." Then he forced Ino's kunai from her hand with a sudden, violent strike.

Ino jumped away, reaching for another kunai. Saburo tensed to follow, then suddenly leapt backward. Instants later, a kunai hit the ground where he'd been standing. Both ninja's eyes followed the trajectory back up into a nearby tree, but the mist hid whoever had interfered. A calculating look appeared in Saburo's eyes, and with a blur of motion he vanished into the fog.

Ino allowed herself a single deep breath. "Sakura?" she asked. "Is that you?"

"No," a male voice said. Its owner leapt down to stand in front of Ino, though at enough of a distance that it clearly wasn't an attack. Ino's eyes narrowed as she studied the Waterfall ninja. Wasn't he the one who had given Sakura that delightful message from Naruto? What had his name been?

Two figures, a boy and a girl, landed beside him. "I thought," the Waterfall kunoichi said, "that we were just going to watch, Arata."

The first Waterfall ninja grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Maya," he said, "but she looked like she could use the help." Ino backed away from the trio. Even if they weren't making any hostile moves yet, she couldn't trust anyone but her own team here. Sakura would kill her if she let down her guard and these three took the Heaven Scroll. Arata noticed her slow retreat, and smiled. "No need to worry," he said. "We already have both scrolls." He paused. "You're Haruno Sakura's teammate, right?"

Ino nodded. "Yes," she said. She stopped retreating, but she didn't relax, her eyes flicking about as she searched for escape routes.

"I'm Hiraki Arata," the Waterfall ninja said. He gestured at his male teammate. "This is Chiba Ikkei."

"Yuhara Maya," the Waterfall kunoichi said, before Arata could introduce her.

Ino nodded slowly. "Yamanaka Ino," she said.

"Well, Ino-san," Arata said. "You want our help taking care of those Mist?"

"Arata!" Ikkei protested. "We shouldn't -"

"Why would you help us?" Ino asked before he could finish. It didn't make any sense. If they already had both scrolls, they'd gain nothing by going after the team from the Mist.

Arata shrugged. "We sort of owe the Leaf a favor," he said.

"Oh, just admit it," Maya said, rolling her eyes. "You just think that Sakura girl is cute."

Ikkei grinned. "Jealous, Maya-chan?"

Maya glared at him. "Shut up, Ikkei-kun," she growled, slightly unrolling a scroll held in a special sheath on her hip. Her hand lightly touched the characters written there, and a moment later she held a naginata. "Out of the way, Yamanaka-san," she said.

Ino didn't wait, jumping to one side. "What are you -"

The Waterfall kunoichi ignored the question as the way she held her polearm changed subtly. "The Third Stance: Calling the Wind!" she declared as she struck at the air in front of her. While the winds that resulted were nothing compared to the fan attacks of the Sand ninja Temari, they were far greater than the strike should have produced. The cloak of mist before her shuddered, then parted, blown away by the force of the winds. As though this had severed some critical link, the Mist Concealment Technique began to fade away. Moments later, Ino could see fire in the distance and barely make out the massive figure that had produced it.

"Chouji," she breathed, not waiting for the Waterfall ninja before racing away to join up with her teammate.

Behind her, Arata grinned. "What are we waiting for?" he asked. Ikkei sighed, but a moment later all three Waterfall ninja were following Ino.

* * *

Sakura paused as she landed lightly on a low tree branch, her eyes flicking over the ground below. She'd passed this way once before as she'd scouted ahead of Ino and Chouji. Now she was heading back to check on her teammates, but something seemed off. She couldn't quite place it, but a nagging instinct told her that something was wrong. What was it?

"Sakura." The pink-haired kunoichi almost started at the sound of her rival's voice coming from her headset. "I think we're about to come up on that stream you mentioned. Come on back and let's figure out what we're going to do next."

Sakura turned on her microphone. "I'm already on my way," she whispered. "Be careful." Turning the microphone back off, she again studied the ground below. Frowning slightly, she leapt down, silently landing in a crouch. This was it, she realized. The dirt was too smooth. Somebody had erased the signs of his or her passage through here since the last time she'd passed this way.

Almost instantly, Sakura leapt away again, but she didn't pause as she landed on her target branch, jumping again to a higher one. Was it just coincidence that someone's path had crossed hers, or was someone waiting in ambush? Sakura's gaze swept the nearby trees, searching for some evidence either way. Was that a flicker of movement in the distance? Sakura's hand snaked into her pouch, retrieving shuriken as she cautiously drew near.

Shortly afterward, Sakura frowned. She was well hidden in a high branch, looking down at another kunoichi on the ground below - a girl she recognized. She was the other female on Ren's team. "Midori's the one you should look out for," Ren had told her. Why? Sakura studied the girl beneath her carefully for some clue.

Long black hair flowed freely down her back, which was turned to Sakura. Midori wore the same - or at least an outfit similar to the same - gray sweat suit she had worn during the confrontation at the village gates. Sakura couldn't see any visible weapons, but it was almost certain that Midori had plenty of shuriken and kunai ready. Neji had said that she was a doujutsu user, Sakura remembered. She'd have to be careful not to look into the other girl's eyes.

After briefly scanning the surrounding area in search of Ren or Saburo and finding nothing, Sakura's free hand reached for her headset. She'd have to tell Ino and Chouji about this. Before she could complete the motion, Sakura flung herself to one side, narrowly dodging the kunai that came flying out of the woods as the Midori below vanished in a puff of smoke.

Sakura cursed as she futilely threw her readied shuriken back along the kunai's flight path. The Midori she'd been watching was just a replication. Sakura jumped to another branch as she searched for the real Midori. Where was she hiding? Another kunai came flying from another tree, and this time Sakura had enough warning to draw one of her own kunai and parry the oncoming weapon. Catching sight of a flash of gray cloth, she loosed her blade. It flew straight and true, and there was another burst of smoke. This time a small piece of deadwood fell away from the smoke, the kunai sticking firmly out of it.

"Replacement Technique," Sakura muttered as she moved, drawing another kunai. Midori was making a fool of her. Where was she now? As though in answer to Sakura's question, the branch she was standing on shuddered as someone landed behind her. Sakura barely had time to whirl around and parry Midori's first kunai strike.

The other kunoichi smiled. "Such luck," she said, "that the team whose trail we found was yours." Her smile widened. "And even more luck that I chose to be the one to circle around and wait for the scout to return."

"I don't know what you think," Sakura said, keeping her eyes carefully on Midori's body and not on her face, "but Ren-san and I agreed that there would be no hard feelings from our match."

Midori laughed. "You think this is about Ren?" The sudden tensing of her legs gave Sakura just enough warning that another attack was coming. Sakura darted forward, causing Midori's strike to go wide and only score a glancing blow to Sakura's shoulder. Sakura's own kunai plunged into Midori's chest.

Sakura's eyes widened slightly, then Midori dissolved into water. "Water Replication," Sakura breathed, her eyes narrowing again as she searched once more for the real Midori.

Midori's mocking laughter echoed through the trees. "So you know of that technique, do you?" Sakura leapt to another branch instants before a storm of kunai hit where she had been standing.

Sakura's headset crackled into life. "Sakura," Ino said, "where the hell are you?"

"I'm a little busy, Ino-pig," Sakura muttered softly into her microphone. She jumped to another tree, still unable to see any sign of Midori.

"I don't care," Ino's reply came. "We just got ambushed by two of those Mist!"

Another kunai came flying at Sakura, who parried and jumped to tree it had apparently come from. No matter how she searched, she couldn't find the real Midori. "Well, I'm taking care of number three," she told Ino irritably. "So shut up and do your part." Pausing slightly, Sakura turned her microphone off. She almost frowned, but carefully kept her face smooth. Was that a slight flicker of movement?

A moment later, yet another kunai came from that direction. Sakura waited several seconds before reacting, dropping down to the branch below. Midori was using genjutsu to cloak herself. No wonder it was so difficult to find the real her. Sakura remembered what she had read of genjutsu cloaking techniques. With enough time, they could be seen through, particularly if the user was moving. If she could buy herself enough time, she could deal with this. "If this isn't about Ren," Sakura asked suddenly as she moved to another tree, "what is this about? We never met before last week."

"You have no idea," Midori said, "how much trouble your appearance caused Mitarashi-sensei and Ren." Sakura didn't wait for an attack, moving again while keeping a careful eye on the direction the voice had come from. There - another flicker of movement!

Sakura didn't let any sign of what she had noticed into her voice as she feigned weakness, clutching at her lightly wounded shoulder. "What do you mean?"

"Mitarashi-sensei hadn't expected her sister to have somehow found a student, but she had planned for that anyway." Midori laughed. "Except for one thing."

Sakura was certain that she could now just barely make out the outline of Midori's figure. "Is this a riddle?" she asked when it became apparent Midori was waiting for an answer.

"It was," Midori said, jumping to another tree herself. It took all of Sakura's control not to follow Midori's motion with her eyes. "I suppose I should get a straight answer from you before I finish you off. Since there's certainly no one around but the two of us, there's no reason for you to lie."

Sakura wasn't able to keep the confusion from her voice. "What in the world are you talking about?"

Midori laughed. "I suppose that gives me the answer," she said, "but Ren would want me to make sure." She paused deliberately before continuing. "Haruno Sakura," she said slowly, "are you or are you not an agent of the Hidden Mist?"

Sakura froze, moments before she would have leapt to a branch giving her a better angle of attack. "What!"

Midori did move to another tree, one very close to Sakura's. Sakura could tell from the slight distortions in the air and flickers of motion that she was pulling out a weapon. "I didn't think so," Midori said as she prepared to throw. "It's over."

Sakura moved first, the shuriken she'd been surreptitiously readying flying with perfect accuracy at the cloaked Mist kunoichi. Sakura followed her weapons, her kunai ready to strike. The cloaking genjutsu dissolving, Midori flipped backward, avoiding both the shuriken and Sakura's attack, and landed in a crouch where the branch met the tree's trunk.

"You have good eyes," Midori said, "but that's only to be expected from another member of the Haruno Clan." She smiled as she raised her gaze, and twin pairs of emerald eyes met. Sakura froze, unable to look away. Midori's smile widened. "It's over," she repeated as her hands formed a single seal. "Haruno Ninpou: Gaze of Torment."

Sakura's world exploded into pain. She screamed as she stumbled forward, every motion sending new waves of of fiery pain through her. Her vision blurred as she fell from the tree branch - thankfully a low one. The sensation of her heavy landing was amplified a thousand times, feeling like she'd fallen from much higher. Whenever she tried to move, she screamed again from the crippling agony that raced through her. Somewhere, in a corner of her mind, she knew that this was only genjutsu, but it did her no good. What did it matter if the pain was caused by nothing real? It felt the same as true pain, if not even worse.

Midori landed lightly on the ground beside Sakura. "It's a shame," she commented as began to search Sakura for any scrolls, "that Ren made me promise not to kill you." Her every touch set Sakura's skin aflame with more pain, and it was all she could do to keep from passing out. Eventually, Midori satisfied herself that Sakura was not carrying either a Heaven or an Earth scroll, and she stepped away, sighing. "I suppose now I just have to wait until Saburo and Ren are done with your teammates."

As though summoned by Midori's words, Ino's voice sounded in Sakura's ear. "Sakura. Are you there?" A moment later, Ino spoke again. "Sakura?"

With tremendous effort, Sakura managed to fight against the pain every movement caused and turn on her microphone. "Here," she gasped out quietly, though it turned into a muffled scream. Midori glanced at her and smiled, seemingly not noticing that Sakura had said anything intelligible.

"Sakura!" Ino said. "What's happening? Where are you?" Sakura tried to answer her rival, but all that emerged from her mouth were pained moans. Midori laughed, and it was obvious that Ino had heard the sound by the tone of her voice when she next spoke. "Sakura. If you can form seals, form these seals exactly when I tell you to." A moment later, Ino slowly began to recite an unfamiliar list of seals. Painstakingly, Sakura turned her body to hide her hands from Midori and followed Ino's instructions. It seemed as though Sakura could feel Ino grin as she finished the list of seals and said the name of the technique. "Body-Sharing Technique!"

An instant later, a familiar foreign presence lifted Sakura's head, carefully looking around. In her mind, Sakura whimpered from the pain, but Ino apparently felt none of it. Midori glanced curiously at Sakura. "Did you finally pass out?" she asked.

Ino made Sakura's body leap up, punching the stunned Midori in the face. As Midori stumbled back, Sakura mentally screamed in unimaginable pain. "What's wrong with you, Forehead?" Ino mumbled softly with Sakura's voice. "You aren't hurt."

Midori shakily stared at Sakura. "How did you counter my technique?" she asked as she rubbed at a spot of blood on her lip.

Ino forced a smirk onto Sakura's lips. "That's for me to know and you to find out," she said, running Sakura's hands quickly through seals. "Paralysis Technique!" Midori froze, unable to move. Ino laughed as she held the final seal. "Now I just need to wait for the others to catch up."

An instant later, two figures leapt down from the trees to stand beside Midori. "What did you do to Midori?" Saburo demanded as Ren carefully examined her teammate.

Not waiting for Ren to figure out how to disrupt the technique, Ino made Sakura's hands release the seal they were holding and leapt backward, drawing Sakura's last kunai. She cursed as she studied the three Mist ninja. Midori shook herself, drawing another kunai of her own.

Before any more violence could occur, there was a massive blur of motion. Chouji, swollen to huge size, appeared between the Mist team and Sakura's body. Ino's body was slung over one shoulder. Ino formed a seal with Sakura's hands, whispering, "Release." Instantly, Ino stirred, freeing herself from Chouji's grasp and leaping down to the ground. Once more in control of her body, Sakura collapsed, still unable to move from the pain that swept through her.

She was still able to notice the three Waterfall ninja that appeared behind the Mist team. From their stances, they were obviously not cooperating with the Mist, and they soon joined Ino and Chouji in surrounding the trio.

Saburo's eyes flicked between the five. "Ren-chan," he said firmly.

Ren nodded, racing through seals before grasping her teammates' hands. "Shadow Smoke Evasion!" she shouted. There were three massive plumes of thick black smoke, and when they faded the Mist were gone. Sighing, Chouji returned to his normal size.

No longer able to hold it in, Sakura screamed again, drawing the attention of all five of the remaining ninja. "Sakura," Ino said as she raced forward. "What's wrong?"

One of the Waterfall, a kunoichi, followed her. "It looks like some sort of genjutsu," she commented as the naginata she held vanished in a puff of smoke. Her hands formed a single seal, then she laid them on Sakura's side. "Release!"

Blessed relief passed through Sakura's body as the pain instantly vanished. Panting, Sakura looked up at the Waterfall kunoichi. "Thank you," she said, then hesitated, not knowing her name.

"Yuhara Maya," she answered smoothly. She stood. "We saved your girlfriend, Arata," she said. Sakura followed her gaze to see the ninja who had given her Naruto's message grinning sheepishly. "There's no reason to stick around any longer."

"You are jealous," the third Waterfall ninja commented.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up, Ikkei-kun?" Maya asked dangerously. "Let's go." Arata shrugged apologetically at Sakura, then all three Waterfall ninja vanished in a blur of motion.

* * *

**Day Thirty-eight**

It had been very lucky for Sakura's team that they had not encountered any more teams as they had searched for a hiding place to rest and recover in. Sakura herself had been almost completely out of it, half-dazed by the aftereffects of Midori's painful genjutsu. Chouji had burned through a vast amount of chakra, and though he had been quickly recovering he would not have been able to fight at full strength. Ino had been the least affected of the team, but she would not have been enough to make up for her two teammates' weakness had another hostile encounter occurred.

When they had found the small cave - barely worthy of the name - at the bottom of a low hill, they had quickly set up a watch schedule and set to resting without further conversation. After a restful, uneventful night, all three were feeling much better, and the time had come to discuss yesterday's events.

"What the hell were you doing, Forehead?" Ino demanded. "You were supposed to be scouting so we wouldn't be ambushed like that!"

"Ino," Chouji rumbled, but Sakura shook her head.

"Ino's right," she said softly, glancing at the ground. "I'm sorry."

As perhaps nothing else could, Sakura's unexpected apology almost instantly deflated Ino's rage. "Sakura? What happened?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sakura asked. "I did a poor job of hiding my tracks. The Mist team found them, and Ren and Saburo followed them back to you while Midori waited in ambush for me."

"That's not what I meant, Sakura!" Ino snapped. "What happened between you and that Midori girl? You haven't been acting like yourself."

Sakura blinked slowly. "What happened on your end?" she asked after a moment. "How did those Waterfall get involved?"

Ino and Chouji traded a look, and then Chouji spoke. "The Mist used Mist Concealment Technique to obscure their approach. The boy - Saburo?" Sakura nodded slightly, and Chouji continued. "He used some sort of exploding replication to separate us. Then they figured out that Ino had our scroll and he went after her while Ren kept me busy." After a moment, he added, "Did you know that Ren knew Claw of the Fire Dragon?"

Sakura nodded. "It's a Mitarashi Clan technique," she said quietly.

Ino blinked. "Then how did you -" She cut off suddenly. "You got that psycho Mitarashi Anko to teach it to you?" she asked.

Sakura nodded. "Didn't I tell you?" she asked, then she shook her head. "I guess not."

Chouji frowned. "Now I remember Asuma-sensei saying that, when you showed it to him."

Ino blinked. "Oh yeah." She paused. "Anyway, after I got separated from Chouji, I ran into the Waterfall ninja. They decided to help, though I'm not sure why." She shrugged. "The rest is kind of obvious."

"What about the technique you used on Sakura?" Chouji asked. "I didn't know you could do that, Ino."

"I wasn't certain either," she replied. "It's a variation on the Mind-Body Switch Technique my dad showed me right before the exam started. It works instantly, but only if the target can hear me. I need the target's cooperation for it, though." Ino grinned sheepishly. "I really didn't know whether it would work over the radio but it was worth a try." Her face turned serious as she looked at her rival. "You've heard our stories, Sakura. Now it's your turn. What happened with Midori?"

For a while, Sakura didn't say anything, then she shrugged slowly. "We fought," she said flatly, looking away from Ino's gaze. "I lost. That's all.""

Ino stared unbelievingly at Sakura for a moment. "That's a load of bull," Ino finally said. "I know it, even Chouji probably knows it, and you know we know it." Chouji didn't say anything. "Am I going to have to beat this story out of you? Spill it."

"Fine," Sakura growled. "Midori's name," she said, "is apparently Haruno Midori."

Ino and Chouji were silent. Then, Chouji spoke. "Some of your family left the Leaf and joined the Mist?" he guessed.

"I don't know!" Sakura answered, frustrated. "The other way around, I think," she continued, clenching her fists. "I never even knew there were any other Haruno but my mother and me!" She sighed. "Damn it," she said quietly, and for a long while neither Ino nor Chouji could find the words to speak.

Eventually, Chouji said, "We should get moving."

It was Sakura who responded first, standing. "You're right. We still need to find an Earth Scroll." Her voice was flat and hard, and Ino gazed worriedly at her rival.

"Are you okay?" Ino asked after a moment.

"I'll have to be," Sakura answered. "I have no intention of failing here."

Ino nodded slowly. "All right," she said as she rose. "Let's stick together today."

"Fine," Sakura answered curtly, and the three set off. They were nearing where on their map a large lake was shown, and the terrain was beginning to become less of a forest and more of a range of hills. There were still plenty of trees, though, and Sakura quickly moved to the treetops, leaving Ino and Chouji on the ground. Unlike before, though, she only carefully shadowed her teammates' movements rather than ranging afield to scout.

As her team slowly made its way toward the center of the training area, Sakura considered the painful knot of conflicting emotions Midori's revelation had created. Slowly, deliberately, she took them all and locked them away in a tiny corner of her mind. With them she imprisoned the questions that she wanted to ask her mother, the worries that had been raised, and everything else related to the matter. She had no time for such concerns now. She had spoken truly to Ino before. She would not fail here. She could not fail here. That was all that mattered now. All else was only distraction, and distraction could be deadly.

"I expect you to participate, and I expect you to improve your performance over your showing last time," the Hokage had told her a little more than a month ago. Sakura would meet the Hokage's expectation. She had no other choice. This was the path she had set for herself, perhaps the first time in her life she had made such a decision. She would see it through to the end, no matter what.

For the first time since her fight with Midori, a slight smile crossed her face. "I not going to take back my words," she whispered, remembering the seemingly countless times she had heard that from Naruto's lips. "That's my way of the ninja." Was it truly hers as well?

On the ground below, Ino glanced up at her. "Did you say something, Sakura?" she asked.

Sakura shook her head. "Nothing." She paused, then shook her head again. "Nothing," she repeated.

Ino frowned, trading a glance with Chouji. "All right," she replied, and the other two ninja sped ahead, letting Sakura fall behind. It was almost a minute later, by which point Sakura was beginning to wonder whether she was imagining things, that they sprung the ambush.

"Fuuton: Breakthrough Technique!" a male voice called out. A massive, sudden windstorm burst into existence. Chouji was pushed back by the force of the winds, raising an arm to shield his face. Ino struggled for a moment, but was ultimately flung backward into a tree trunk. She slumped to the ground, and did not rise.

Three Sand genin, at least five years older than Sakura and her team, emerged from the underbrush. One nonchalantly stuck out one arm. "Expanding Chain Technique!" he shouted, four long whips of metal chains sprouting from underneath the sleeve of his shirt. They flew through the air, wrapping around Chouji before he could react. Though the stocky ninja struggled, he was not able to free himself.

One of the Sand ninja laughed, looking almost directly at Sakura's hidden perch as he readied a kunai. "We know you're up there somewhere, little Leaf. Come out before we decide to do something unpleasant." Sakura weighed her options, and a few moments later she leapt down to stand before the three Sand ninja. "Good girl," the Sand ninja said, though he didn't put up his weapon. The ninja holding Chouji's chains laughed.

The third Sand ninja reacted entirely differently, freezing momentarily and backing away nervously. The chain user glanced back at his frightened teammate. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Didn't you listen to Tenma-kun?" the terrified ninja asked as he backed away. "She's the one they say beat Gaara!" Sakura resisted the urge to blink as she remembered Rock Lee's easily misinterpreted comments to another Sand team before the first exam. It seemed that the tale had grown in the spreading.

The chain user's eyes widened. "What?" he asked.

The other Sand ninja laughed. "A little girl like that? Beat Gaara?" He laughed again, but it seemed a little forced. "Ridiculous." None the less, he backed away slightly, his drawn kunai shifting into a defensive condition.

Sakura's mind raced. How would someone who could defeat Gaara of the Desert act in this situation? An arrogant sneer appeared on her face as two more Sakura appeared, one on either side of the first. "Now, now," she asked mockingly, "where did all that fighting spirit go?" All three Sakura formed a seal with one hand, sprouting claws of fire on the other. "I was hoping we could have some fun," she continued. Her voice made it more than clear that she meant only one person would be having fun, and that person would not be wearing a Sand forehead protector. The Sand ninja stirred, all their attention divided between watching the fearsome sight before them and searching for escape routes.

This distraction gave Chouji the chance he needed. With a sudden grunt, he forced his hands together, forming a seal. "Multi-Size Technique!" he roared, and as he grew the chains around him shattered. The chain user stumbled backward, falling to the ground. A moment later, Ino's replication, still slumped against a tree, vanished in a puff of white smoke. Three kunai flew from out of the surrounding trees, each one landing at a Sand ninja's feet.

"No need to get excited," the Sand ninja who had first recognized Sakura said as he nervously glanced about. He slowly reached into a pocket. "We'll just give you our scroll without a fight, okay? Just let us go!" He began to pull out a scroll, and Sakura had to resist the urge to sigh as she saw the pale color of a Heaven Scroll.

"We don't need your scroll," one Sakura said, moving her hand slightly. Her flames flicked through the air, almost reaching the Sand ninja. "Get out of our sight."

"Thank you!" the chain user said as he rose, obviously marveling at his team's good fortune. A moment later, the three Sand ninja were gone. A few moments after that, the three Sakura vanished without even a puff of smoke, and the real Sakura leapt out of another tree. Chouji shrank back to his normal size, and Ino emerged from another hiding place.

"That was good acting," she said, laughing. "You should let Lee-san take you on a date after all this is over, Forehead."

Sakura smiled slightly. "Maybe," she answered.

"We could have won anyway," Chouji commented, grinning widely. "They never even noticed that you two were really hiding. It's too bad that they didn't have an Earth Scroll."

Sakura's smile vanished. While the easy victory did wonders to raise her spirits, they weren't any closer to passing this exam. They only had until noon on the day after tomorrow to find an Earth Scroll. They couldn't afford to waste any more time. "Let's get moving," she said. "We've still got a long ways to go before we can stop for the night."

"Right," Ino said. "It's my turn to take point," she continued, leaping to a tree without waiting for Sakura to comment. Sakura sighed, but then she smiled. "Chouji?" she asked.

He nodded. "Let's go."

Though they searched for signs as they traveled, the three found no hint of another team's presence until they reached the shore of the large lake near the central fortress as night began to fall. After carefully scouring the area for any other teams, they selected a campsite. Sakura busied herself preparing a small fire as Chouji fished and Ino kept an eye out for any approaching ninja. Sakura actually hoped the fire she was about to start attracted a team. That would be another chance at an Earth Scroll. Kneeling in front of the sticks and leaves she had gathered, Sakura formed a seal.

"Yo," Inuzuka Kiba said from directly behind her.

In an instant, Sakura stood on the other side of the unlit fire, facing him with a kunai in her hands. "Kiba-san," she said flatly. Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata stood on either side of their teammate. "What do you want?" Chouji had already noticed the confrontation and was racing back to shore.

Kiba doubled over, laughing, almost dislodging Akamaru from his perch on his shoulder. "You should have seen the way you jumped," he said.

"Kiba-kun," Hinata said softly.

Kiba sighed and straightened. "Yeah, yeah." He glanced at Chouji, who was drawing near. "You can calm down," he said. "We already have both of the scrolls we need. You've got nothing to worry about from us." Chouji slowed slightly, but he didn't stop until he stood next to Sakura.

Ino landed lightly on her other side. "Sorry, Sakura, Chouji," she said. "I have no idea how they got past me."

"You use your eyes too much," Shino said simply, and Ino frowned.

"H- How are you doing?" Hinata asked.

"We have one scroll," Chouji answered.

Kiba grinned. "Maybe we should be worried about you three," he said lightly. Sakura frowned.

"This is a good campsite," Shino volunteered, glancing about.

"And?" Ino asked suspiciously.

"We can share," Hinata said quietly.

Kiba nodded. "If you guys still need a scroll, you're going to have a tough day tomorrow. It won't be easy for us, either. We'll all be able to sleep better with extra backup close at hand."

Sakura's team traded glances, but after a moment Ino nodded. "That sounds fine," she said.

Shino glanced about. "We will camp there," he said, pointing to a cluster of trees by the shore. It was far enough away to be a distinct campsite, but close enough that an attack on either would surely alert the other team. "You can camp here," he continued.

Sakura nodded. It made sense. The distance gave both teams a little bit of needed privacy, without sacrificing the advantage of having allies nearby. "All right," she agreed for her team, and neither of her teammates protested. A thought wormed its way into the back of Sakura's mind, and she forced it back for the moment. Now was not the time for that.

It was much later, after the sun had finished setting and the two teams had returned to their separate campsites after a shared dinner, that Sakura let the thought surface again. She and her teammates had finished agreeing on their watch schedule for the night. Before Ino and Chouji could break away from their huddle, Sakura gestured for them to stay put a moment longer.

When she spoke, she carefully pitched her voice so low that her teammates had to lean even closer to hear her. "They say they have an Earth Scroll," she said simply. "We need one." There was no need to spell out what she was implying.

"Are you serious, Sakura?" Ino hissed, almost as softly.

"They're our friends," Chouji agreed.

"Would you fight one of them if you were matched with them in the next exam?" Sakura asked, having already pondered this same objection.

"Of course," Ino said, blinking. "What does that -"

"How is this any different?" Sakura interrupted. "This is an exam, just like the third exam. It's not like we're going to really be trying to hurt them. We just want their Earth Scroll."

"But still," Chouji said.

"I don't like it very much either," Sakura admitted, "but we only have one more full day to get an Earth Scroll. There's no guarantee we'll even see another team, much less one with an Earth Scroll. We know that they have one." Her face was hard. "I'm not going to fail here."

Ino and Chouji traded a look. "They're strong. We'll need a good plan," Chouji said after a moment.

Sakura smiled grimly. "I have one."

* * *

**Day Thirty-nine**

The night passed uneventfully, though Sakura still had trouble sleeping. Despite her words, she had misgivings about the course of action she had proposed. She didn't the idea of fighting not only other Leaf ninja, but her classmates. Still, that was just part of the second exam, wasn't it? Except for the Mist, nobody here would be a real enemy outside of it under normal circumstances. The rules of the exam pitted them against each other regardless.

Setting that issue aside, the other three members of the so-called "Rookie Nine" presented a formidable challenge. Inuzuka Kiba was strong, Sakura knew. Even if he was the same as six months ago, he would be difficult to defeat, and he had certainly gotten stronger since then. Chouji had assured his teammates that he could fight on even ground with him, though. Sakura was glad for that, for she didn't think Ino or she could claim that.

Hyuuga Hinata was another difficulty. While Sakura doubted Hinata's actual strength was much higher than her own, she knew the Hyuuga heir was a bad match-up for her in a fair fight. Sakura didn't trust that her genjutsu could withstand the Byakugan's scrutiny. The Gentle Fist made using close-range attacks worse than futile. Ranged attacks might be just as useless, if Hinata had mastered her clan's absolute defense. It was up to Ino's mental attacks to defeat her.

That left Aburame Shino for Sakura. The bug user was something of a cipher - none of her team had seen him fight, save for that one lopsided match in the last exams, and he had been a loner in the academy. He had consistently ranked near the top of the class, though, and Sakura knew Shino was smart - possibly smarter than herself or even Shikamaru. No, Aburame Shino would not be easy to defeat, either, but of the three she judged she had the best chance against him in a straight fight.

If all went well, though, there would be no need to face any of the three in a straight fight. Sakura would never have suggested attacking them if she hadn't thought they could avoid a three-on-three brawl. There was no doubt in her mind that, if she was some hypothetical third party, that she would bet on Kiba, Hinata, and Shino in that sort of fight. Her own team might be able to pull out a victory, but Sakura judged the odds would be against it.

Sakura glanced at her teammates, shaking her head to clear it of her musings. The time for that sort of thinking was over, and the time for action had come. "Are you ready?" she asked.

Chouji nodded. "Yes."

"I still don't like this," Ino muttered.

"We don't have to do it," Sakura said after a moment. "I just think it's our best shot at the scroll we need."

"I know," Ino said. "I don't have to like it, though."

"You don't," Chouji, surprisingly, said, "but you need to do your part without hesitating. We'll only get one shot at this."

"I know," Ino repeated. "I'll do it."

Sakura nodded. "Let's go, then," she said, and the three ninja parted ways. Sakura headed for the other team's campsite, taking no effort to hide her approach. Kiba was sitting on a log in plain sight, petting Akamaru.

"Yo," he said with a wave as Sakura neared. "What's up?"

Sakura glanced about, not finding either of Kiba's teammates. "Are Hinata and Shino around?" she asked.

Kiba shrugged. "They're scouting to make sure nobody's set up an ambush for us overnight. They should be back in a minute. Why?"

Sakura forced herself to smile. "We have a little proposition for you three," she said.

Kiba grimaced. "If it's what I think it is, the answer is no. The three of us thought about it last night, but we won't help you guys get the second scroll. We don't want to risk contact with any other teams if we can help it."

Sakura shook her head. "Of course not," she said. "That's not what I want to ask."

"What do you want to ask, then?" Kiba responded.

Before Sakura could reply, Shino and Hinata returned. "Here's the deal," Sakura said a little while later. "It's been four days since any of us have had a bath. I'm sure Kiba could smell us from a mile away." Kiba grinned briefly at this. "Since we have this nice lake here and extra people to use as guards, we'd like to take advantage of it." Sakura gestured back toward her team's campsite. "Ino and I found a nice little spot for bathing past where we're camped. I figure you guys can keep watch while we girls take a bath, and then we can return the favor." She smiled slightly. "The way the numbers work out, there'll always be three people on guard. That's enough to match an enemy team."

Kiba shrugged. "I don't see the harm, but I don't think I really need a bath."

"You do," Shino said flatly and Hinata smiled softly.

Kiba rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said.

Sakura grabbed Hinata's hand. "Come on," she said. "I'll show you the way." Hinata didn't struggle as she was led away from her teammates. The place that Sakura took the Hyuuga heir to was, indeed, a good spot for bathing. Here, the lake jutted out into the surrounding land, creating a small pool cloaked on three sides by thick undergrowth and rocks. Hinata smiled as she took in the location. "Where is Ino-san?" she asked after a moment.

Sakura shrugged. "She's coming," she said. Sakura took off her green jacket, making a mental note to switch to heavier red jacket she had retrieved from her house once the exam was over. It was already starting to get too cold for the lighter jacket. After a moment, Hinata followed suit, turning her back to Sakura modestly and pulling her gray sweatshirt over her head.

That was when Sakura struck, grappling Hinata from behind. Somehow, she anticipated Sakura's first attack, stumbling forward and out of Sakura's grasp. Cursing, Sakura swept out with her leg, knocking the Hyuuga heir off her feet. Before Hinata could recover, Sakura jumped on top of her. The two wrestled briefly, but Hinata was still hindered by her half-removed sweatshirt, and Sakura quickly gained the upper hand.

"Now, Ino!" Sakura said harshly, and Hinata stiffened, then relaxed, no longer struggling against her attacker. Sakura didn't relax her grip. "Ino?" she asked.

"Mockingbird," Hinata replied calmly. "It's me." Sakura released her, and Hinata pulled her sweatshirt back down. Hinata tried to rise, then fell back down.

"Are you okay, Ino?" Sakura asked as she rose herself.

"It's these eyes," Ino said with Hinata's voice. "They're even weirder from the inside. It's making me a little dizzy." She closed Hinata's silver eyes briefly, then reopened them. She stood. "I think I'm getting used to it. I wonder whether I could activate the Byakugan if I knew how."

"I don't see why not," Sakura responded after a moment, "but now's not time to worry about that."

Ino nodded Hinata's head. "I know," she said. She began to pat all over Hinata's body, searching for any hidden scrolls. After a moment, she pulled out a Heaven Scroll. "Damn it," she cursed as she returned the scroll to its hiding spot. Sakura had to resist the urge to shudder at hearing so uncharacteristic a phrase come from Hinata's lips. Ino's technique creeped her out. Ino sighed. "I guess we go to Plan B," she said.

"We should wait a while longer," Sakura said. "We're supposed to be taking a bath."

Ino shrugged. "They're boys. They're probably already wondering what's taking us so long."

"Not quite yet," Sakura disagreed, rolling her eyes. "Give them another thirty seconds, at least."

It was actually two minutes later when Ino walked up, still in Hinata's body, to the three boys, Sakura trailing after her. Shino sat over by himself, while Kiba and Chouji were chatting quietly. Kiba looked up as Ino approached. "Done already, Hinata?" he asked.

Ino nodded. "Yes," she said quietly. Shino stood up.

"All right, then," Kiba said as he started to head toward the bathing spot. "I guess we should get started." He paused as he neared Ino.

"I- is something wrong, Kiba-kun?" Ino asked.

Kiba slugged her. Hinata's body flew away, landing with a heavy thud. "What are you doing, Kiba?" Sakura demanded.

"You two smell like you were in a fight, not a bath," Kiba growled. "I remember Yamanaka's technique from the last exams."

Behind Kiba, Chouji rapidly formed seals. "Multi-Size Technique!" he roared.

Kiba leaped away, turning to face the giant ninja in midair. "Akamaru!" he snapped out as he landed in a half-crouch, forming seals of his own. His dog jumped on to Kiba's back as he formed the final seal. "Beast-Man Replication!" Kiba yelled, and a moment later Akamaru was replaced by a second Kiba.

Shino began to stretch out his arms, only to freeze as he felt the cold prick of a kunai on the back of his neck. "I wouldn't move," the second Sakura standing behind him said sweetly, "if I were you. I wouldn't let any bugs out, either."

Perhaps Shino's eyes flicked back to glance at the pink-haired kunoichi, but Sakura couldn't tell through his dark sunglasses. "You wouldn't kill me," he stated.

"No," Sakura responded, "but this seemed the best way to demonstrate that I had the drop on you. If you try anything, you'll be hurting. I'd prefer to not have to do that."

"Dual Piercing Fang!" one Kiba shouted, and both started to spin as they charged Chouji. The spinning attacks pummeled the giant ninja, and he stumbled backward, unable to block all the strikes. As the two Kiba leaped away, landing in a half-crouch on opposite sides of Chouji, they grinned. "You're going to regret messing with us!"

Chouji formed seals, inhaling deeply. "Katon: Fireball Technique!" The massive ball of flame he breathed out flew toward one Kiba, who barely managed to leap out of the way.

The other Kiba tensed, preparing to jump on Chouji's over-sized back. "Not so fast," the first Sakura said. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" Flames sprouting from her hand, she charged, and that Kiba was forced to leap out of the way, spoiling his attack.

The other Kiba snarled. "Piercing Fang!" he roared, but this time, faced with only one attacker, Chouji was able to swat the attack aside. That Kiba smashed into the ground, but a moment later he rolled to his feet.

The Kiba facing Sakura grinned as he studied his opponent. "I've seen that technique," he said. "When all this is over, you'll have to tell me how come you and that Ren girl both know it, but for now let's just see if you can really fight me." He grinned. "Piercing Fang!" Somehow, Sakura got out of the way of his spinning attack, but Kiba just as easily dodged her fiery claws when she counterattacked.

Shino glanced between the Sakura fighting Kiba and the Sakura at his back. "I know what you're thinking," the Sakura behind him said. "You're wondering which one is real." She smiled. "Maybe we both are."

"You don't have the chakra for the Shadow Replication Technique," Shino said, "but Kurenai-sensei said you knew a genjutsu replication technique, one that could even fool the sense of touch. You are only genjutsu."

"Oh?" Sakura asked, her kunai pressing more firmly on Shino's neck. "Care to bet?"

"You could not sneak on me like that," he said simply. "My bugs would have warned me."

"Perhaps I know a cloaking genjutsu also," Sakura commented. "You'll only get one chance to guess. I wouldn't risk it."

"Perhaps," Shino said, frowning.

Chouji and the Kiba he was fighting seemed to be evenly matched. Both were taking hits, but nothing that would put them out of the fight. If their duel continued uninterrupted, it would come down to simple endurance. It was hard to say, but Sakura guessed that Chouji had the advantage there. Hinata's body lay still, and Sakura wasn't certain who would be in control when it moved again.

The Kiba fighting the second Sakura laughed as she dodged another Piercing Fang. "You're faster than I thought, Haruno," he said, "but unless you've got a good trick up your sleeve I'm going to hit eventually. Then it'll be over."

Sakura smiled at him. "You shouldn't have boasted so much before," she said as she reached back into her pouch. "You made me think about what I would do if I had to fight you in a preliminary match. The answer came to me when I remembered the last exams."

"Oh?" Kiba asked.

"It wasn't easy to get the right ingredients so quickly," Sakura said, "but Shizune-sama was willing to help me." Her smile turned into a grin as she pulled out a small smoke bomb. "I call it the Uzumaki Naruto Special."

Kiba's eyes widened as she threw the bomb at her feet and the two ninja were engulfed in yellow, foul-smelling fumes. Even the other Kiba, well away from the smoke, froze, covering his nose. Taking advantage of this, Chouji landed a heavy hit. That Kiba collapsed, and in a puff of white smoke vanished and was replaced by Akamaru. The dog whimpered once, but lay still. Breathing heavily, Chouji returned to his normal size.

"That was the real one, then," Shino said, glancing at the Sakura behind him.

"Are you certain?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter," Shino said. A cloud of bugs exploded into being from beneath Sakura, engulfing her. She vanished. A moment later, Shino staggered, his hands grabbing at the kunai that had embedded itself in his side.

"Actually," Sakura said as she emerged from behind a tree, "they were both genjutsu."

Kiba charged out of the slowly dissolving cloud of yellow fumes. His eyes quickly found Sakura. "You'll pay for that," he growled. Shino pulled the kunai out from his side, a massive cloud of bugs pouring out from under his jacket.

Ino appeared in a blur of motion, kneeling beside Hinata and pulling out a kunai. "Both of you, freeze," she stated. Almost instantly, the bugs whirled about in mid-air, flying back to Shino, who turned to face the new arrival.

"You wouldn't," Kiba growled.

"No," Ino said as she pulled out the Heaven Scroll Hinata was carrying and pointed her weapon at it, "but I would destroy this."

"I see," Shino said, and the cloud of bugs surrounding him began to retreat into his jacket. "You want our Earth Scroll, and will return our Heaven Scroll to us unharmed if you get it."

"Precisely," Ino said. "You'll be better off than if you fight us and lose."

"We might just fight you and win," Kiba responded.

Ino laughed. "Maybe," she said, "but do you want to risk it? Sakura and I are mostly fresh, and Chouji's not hurt that bad." Chouji, still panting, forced himself to straighten, his hands inching toward forming a seal.

Kiba snarled at Ino, but he didn't charge. "I'll remember this," he said.

"It's an exam," Sakura stated. "It's every team for themselves. We would have had to fight each other in the next exam anyway." She sighed. "We don't want to fight you any more than we have to. Please give us the scroll."

After a long moment, Shino nodded, pulling out a dark scroll. "You win," he said, placing it on the ground and backing away to stand beside Kiba.

"Sakura," Ino snapped. The pink-haired kunoichi carefully approached and examined the scroll. She nodded as she picked up the Earth Scroll, and Ino breathed a sigh of relief, dropping the Heaven Scroll and backing away from Hinata. Sakura and Chouji quickly raced to stand beside her. "Um," Ino said, "I'm sorry about this, really. I hope you manage to get another Earth Scroll."

Kiba let out a bark of laughter. "We had a spare, but we already gave it up."

"Oh," Ino said.

After a moment, Chouji said, "Good luck." Then the three victorious ninja vanished.

* * *

As he had expected, Hyuuga Neji had not been challenged once during the second exam so far. He knew that he was one of the best genin of his generation, and he knew that his teammates were almost as exceptional, though the chances of him saying as much were minimal. He had inherited the Hyuuga Clan's bloodline more strongly than any in living memory. Rock Lee, while perhaps still not quite up to full strength after his injuries of six months ago and the long period of inactivity that had followed, was a taijutsu specialist that few genin could even follow with their eyes, much less fight with on even ground. Tenten's skill with ranged weapons had long since passed chuunin-level. In combination, their abilities presented an insurmountable challenge to the competition.

They had never even seen the team that had been given the location of the same scroll as them. Rock Lee had raced ahead of his teammates, retrieved the scroll, and returned to them within the first ten minutes of the exam. Neji almost felt sorry for that other team, who had no doubt wasted much time trying to find that scroll. They must have had a tough time, but so far as Neji's team was concerned they might as well have been given the scroll from the start like six months ago.

Acquiring the second scroll later that day had at least been mildly interesting. One of the Grass team that they had ambushed had used a scroll to summon a bear cub which had kept Lee briefly occupied. Another had used an interesting technique to make the grass snare Neji's feet, preventing him momentarily from using the Heavenly Spin. It hadn't helped the Grass ninja, as Tenten's attacks had held the enemy trio at bay until Neji and Lee had dealt with their separate problems. The remainder of the fight had been dull and exceedingly humiliating for the Grass team, and at the end of it Neji's team held both of the scrolls they needed.

After that, the exam had become excruciating for Neji. It had been wise for the three of them to find a good hiding place and hole up in it, but Neji had not realized just what that implied. He had been forced to spend days of enforced idleness trapped in close proximity to Lee and his absurd training routines. At first Tenten had tried to humor their teammate, but by the end of the exam's second day she had more than had enough. On the third day, she had really gotten cranky, and Neji had feared more than once that he would be forced to intervene before Tenten turned her admirable weapon skills on their enthusiastic teammate.

It had been a great relief that today they had decided to move closer to the fortress in the center of the training ground. The need to travel swiftly and silently had prevented Lee from getting on Tenten or his nerves nearly as much, and once they had even had a non-trivial time getting past a Rain team searching for foes to ambush without being spotted. The few other teams they had noticed had never even had a chance of finding them, though.

Some part of Neji knew that, somewhere in this training ground, there had to be at least one team with skills that would provide an interesting battle. There wasn't much chance of that battle occurring, though. Any team with that sort of skill would already have the Heaven and Earth scrolls. They would have no reason to seek to fight Neji's team, just as there was no rational reason for his team to seek out them.

The team that Neji was currently observing through the thick trees with his Byakugan was definitely not one of those teams. They looked tired and beaten, and there was no sign of a scroll on them, but Neji had to give them at least a little credit. From the looks of things, they hadn't given up yet. There wasn't much chance of them succeeding, but they were going to grasp at that chance with all their strength. Neji had learned to appreciate that.

"Who is it?" Tenten asked him, and Neji let his eyes relax before answering.

"The rookies," he said. There was no need to qualify the statement. Only one of the three teams of rookies from the Leaf that had attempted to emulate the last exam's "Rookie Nine" had even made it past the first exam. There would not be a repeat of that unprecedented upset.

"Oh?" Lee asked, raising one of his mighty eyebrows. "How are they doing?"

Neji shook his head. "Not well. It looks like they haven't got any scrolls yet."

"That's a shame," Lee said.

Tenten snorted. "It's only to be expected. There's a reason everyone was surprised last time." She laughed. "It's pretty amazing that they're still moving, actually. It's only because of what happened before that anyone thought they might go further."

"They can still do it," Lee protested. "There's almost a full day left."

Neji frowned. "Not easily. To get both scrolls in less than a day, so late in the exam when only the strongest teams still carry scrolls? That would be… interesting, even for us."

Lee's eyes glowed. "A worthy challenge," he agreed, and he and his rival traded a look.

Tenten glanced between her teammates. "You two are not thinking what I think you're thinking," she declared. "That would be pure insanity!"

Neji smirked. "We won't do their fighting for them," he said. "They should have to prove that they deserve to be in the third exam." Lee nodded in agreement. "That doesn't mean we can't help them, though," Neji continued. "We can give them some advice, point them in them in the direction of the right teams to target."

Lee nodded again. "It is our duty as their sempai!"

Tenten sighed. "Idiots," she said. "Fine. At least it'll increase my chances of getting an easy match."

* * *

**Day Forty**

Sakura awoke with a start as Ino began to shake her. Groaning, Sakura sat up, and Ino looked at her worriedly. "Are you okay, Sakura?" she asked. "You were tossing and turning like crazy."

Sakura rubbed her eyes. "I'm fine," she managed to say after a moment. "Just bad dreams." She had been back in the Forest of Death, faced again with the team from Sound. That wasn't unusual, though it had been a while since she'd relived that fight in her sleep. What was different was how the fight had turned out. The dream was already turning into scattered fragments as she fully awoke, but she remembered swatting the kunoichi Kin aside with a Claw of the Fire Dragon. She remembered Zaku pleading for his arms to be spared just as he had in reality, but in her dream it had been her that he had begged, not Sasuke. Sakura shook her head, trying to chase the wisps of the disturbing dream from her mind.

"Are you sure?" Ino asked. "You don't look fine."

"I'm fine, Ino-pig," Sakura responded. "What time is it?" she asked, glancing at the still-sleeping Chouji.

"I would have had to wake you up soon anyway," Ino said. "It's almost dawn."

"Let's go ahead and get moving, then," Sakura said. "It definitely won't be easy getting to the fortress."

Ino nodded. "All right," she said, and she busied herself waking Chouji.

Sakura rubbed at her eyes once more. Every team that didn't already have both scrolls would be waiting near the fortress, trying to get what they needed. It would be a difficult gauntlet to run, no doubt the reason the rules had been set up to encourage it. Sakura doubted her team had the raw strength to just force their way through. They would need to use stealth and speed. That was their only hope.

A few hours later, they were lying on their bellies, peering over the peak of a hill at the stone walls of the fortress. It stood on another, higher hill, and the forest, already thinning in this area, had been cut away for a good distance from the walls. There wasn't any cover to be found, and Sakura could make out gray-uniformed figures patrolling the tops of the walls. "Somehow," she muttered, "I guess they aren't going to just let us past." It made sense to have to get past the chuunin examiners as a final test.

The gates of the fortress stood invitingly open. "Should we just run for them?" Chouji asked quietly.

Ino shook her head. "Even if the chuunin don't try to stop us somehow, that'll be where every team is watching. It'll be safer to just go up the walls."

Sakura studied the wall segment closest to them. "We'll need to distract that guard, then," she said. "From the looks of things, there's probably an outer courtyard, then an inner wall surrounding the keep and the central courtyard."

Ino nodded. "If we get into a long fight on the outer wall, we'll just attract too much attention."

It seemed as though someone had the same idea as them, as three older Leaf genin broke from concealment not far away, charging the fortress walls. A hail of kunai came down from the fortress, and the genin were forced to retreat. As they vanished back into the trees, Sakura could hear the sounds of fighting. It looked as though some other teams had moved to ambush the team that apparently had both scrolls. There was only really going to be one shot at penetrating the fortress. If they retreated, they'd get ambushed just like that team had been.

Sakura traded a look with her teammates. "I think there's enough moisture in the air that I can use the Mist Concealment Technique," she said. "We might be able to make the walls."

"Those are chuunin up there," Chouji rumbled. "They'll know what Mist Concealment Technique means, and they'll be waiting at the top."

"So we use it as a distraction," Ino replied. "We send replications through the mist and we come at the walls from another angle."

"It might work," Sakura said. "We'll have to be fast, though." She could probably do it and so could Ino. Chouji, though, might have more trouble. She glanced at him, and he nodded.

"I know," he said, searching through his pouch. He pulled out three small pills. "I've been saving these in case we needed them if we got attacked when we were exhausted."

"Soldier pills," Ino said, her eyes narrowing.

Chouji nodded. "We've been lucky enough to not need them until now," he said. "Be careful, though," he cautioned. "You'll have double your normal chakra while they last, but you'll be paying for it when they wear off." He grimaced. "I know more than enough about that."

Ino's eyes narrowed further. "This won't cause a relapse or something, will it?" she asked, worry clear in her voice.

Chouji shook his head. "These aren't anywhere near as powerful as the ones I used on that mission. They're just ordinary soldier pills." He handed one to each of his teammates, then tossed his own into his mouth, biting down on it.

Sakura followed suit, grimacing at the awful taste. Even as she swallowed, though, she could feel her chakra swelling. After looking to make sure that Ino was ready, Sakura formed seals. "Mist Concealment Technique," she breathed, and she marveled briefly at how little chakra it seemed to consume now. She directed the mist to spread toward the wall, and was rewarded as she saw the chuunin atop it scramble to position themselves.

All three genin summoned replications, sending them charging through the mist. The chuunin guarding the fortress began to throw kunai, as though they could see the replications. "Now," Ino growled, standing.

Sakura stood as well, channeling chakra to her legs as she began to run. Ino and Chouji easily kept pace with her as the yards between them and the walls fell away rapidly. They were halfway there before the chuunin noted them running alongside the mist. With most of the guards on this segment out of position, they were met by only an easily dodged handful of kunai instead of a massive onslaught.

The trio didn't slow when they reached the fortress, running straight up the walls like they were horizontal. As soon as they reached the top, they jumped, landing lightly in the courtyard below. Unfortunately, they landed right in front of another chuunin. For what could have been a fatal instant, they froze in surprise.

The chuunin didn't strike, instead holding out a hand. "Heaven Scroll and Earth Scroll, please," she asked.

Ino shook her head. "We're supposed to take them to the inner courtyard," she stated. Sakura blinked. If Ino's guess that this was a final test was right, Morino Ibiki was evil indeed.

The chuunin smiled, relaxing. "Correct," she said. She gestured at an open gateway behind her. "Right over there," she said.

Cautiously, fearing some further test, Sakura made her way there, followed by her teammates. As soon as they passed through the gate, another chuunin stuck out his hand. "Scrolls, please," he said. This time Ino gave up the Heaven Scroll she was carrying without hesitation. A moment later, Sakura followed suit. The chuunin inspected the scrolls carefully, then grinned. "Congratulations," he said, standing aside.

There were already two teams waiting in the inner courtyard, sitting together near the gates of the central keep. One was a team that Sakura had expected to pass - Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten. Neji was the first to notice the newcomers, and he nodded. The other five genin sitting near him looked up and saw Sakura's team.

"Damn," Uzuki Ami snarled. "They passed."

"I told you, Ami-san," Rock Lee said.

Ino shook her head as she stared at the three rookies. "It must have taken a miracle for them to pass," she muttered.

Sakura just rolled her eyes. "They aren't worth worrying about," she said as she followed Chouji, who had begun to walk over to the cluster of genin. After a moment, Ino nodded and followed as well. Fortunately, Ami didn't try to provoke a fight, but she did send more then a few glares in Sakura and Ino's direction. Surprisingly, Mitokado Fuki shrugged apologetically at them when Ami wasn't looking, and Sakura was forced to revise her opinion of the girl she had always thought of as little more than Ami's crony.

Standing between the nine genin and the open gates of the inner keep was a cluster of adults. Tsunade was there - for once even wearing the full formal red and white robes of the Hokage. Shizune, as always, stood by her teacher's side. The three head examiners were there, of course, and for a moment Sakura thought that they were giving her team odd looks. She shrugged that aside as Asuma walked out of the gates, led by a gray-uniformed chuunin. He grinned at the team he had sponsored before walking over to stand beside Gai and a female jounin Sakura didn't recognize - presumably Ami's teacher.

There wasn't much discussion among the genin as they waited to see who else would show up. The next to arrive were the Waterfall Team that had helped Sakura, Ino, and Chouji fight the team from the Mist. Hiraki Arata waved at them, but the Waterfall ninja seated themselves slightly apart from the nine Leaf genin. It was almost another hour before the next team - the Mist team themselves - arrived and seated themselves, away from both the Waterfall and the Leaf.

Sakura held her breath as Mitarashi Kimi was led out of the keep, but the Mist jounin didn't even glance at Anko, instead simply standing beside the other teachers as though it was perfectly normal for her to be there. Sakura let out a sigh of relief. That could have been messy, she thought as she glanced at the Mist team. For an instant, her eyes met Midori's, and she yanked hers away. Midori chuckled cruelly, but Ren laid a hand on her shoulder and she quieted.

"She's a nasty one, isn't she?" Ino muttered. Sakura just nodded, forcing herself not to think about the emotions that Midori raised in her. She was definitely going to have to work up the courage to try to talk to her mother again.

The remaining time crawled, but finally noon arrived with no more teams entering the inner courtyard. Sakura glanced about. Five teams had passed, or fifteen people. That was fewer than last time. Was it low enough that there wouldn't be a preliminary round before the third exam proper? Sakura hoped so. The soldier pill she'd taken was already wearing off, and she felt incredibly weary. She didn't feel up to a tough fight now.

The gates to the outer courtyard slammed shut, and Morino Ibiki stepped forward out of the crowd of adults standing in front of the genin. Slowly, they all stood. "This concludes the second part of the Chuunin Selection Exam," Ibiki said. "My congratulations on passing." Sakura felt muscles she hadn't known were tense relaxing. She'd made it. Now she just needed to win one match. "Now," Morino Ibiki began.

Anko jumped in front of him. "Now it is time for the third exam!" she declared cheerfully.

Ibiki stepped out from behind her, sighing. "Now," he repeated, "Hokage-sama will explain the third exam."

Anko just laughed. "Sorry," she said. "I've just been so bored waiting."

"Should I let you give the speech?" Tsunade asked dryly as she stepped forward. Anko shook her head, and Tsunade began. Sakura didn't pay much attention, as she'd heard much the same speech six months ago. She noted with mild amusement that Tsunade didn't mention that the exam was supposed to be a replacement for war between the allied nations. It would have been in poor taste, after all, given what had happened last time. "The third exam," Tsunade finished, "will commence in thirty days."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. There would be no preliminaries, it seemed. In one sense, that meant that she had already surpassed her previous performance, but she wouldn't be satisfied until she had won a match. She suspected that Tsunade would not be satisfied until then, either.

Tsunade stepped aside after finishing her speech, and Anko stepped forward again. During the speech, Ibiki had gotten a wooden box from somewhere. "Ibiki-san here," Anko said, "will be taking that box around. Please draw a number from it, so we can arrange the matches for the third exam."

When her turn came, Sakura drew the number seven. Glancing at her teammates she saw that Ino was five and Chouji was eleven. If the numbers meant what Sakura thought they did, she wouldn't be fighting either of her teammates in the first round. Once everyone had drawn, Shiranui Genma stepped forward, holding a clipboard and a pen. "Everyone," he said, "please call out your numbers in order."

"One," Hyuuga Neji said after a moment, and the rest of the genin followed suit, ending with Rock Lee calling out fifteen. Sakura guessed that this meant that pair of rivals would only be able to meet each other in the finals.

Genma nodded in satisfaction. "These are the match-ups for the third part of the Chuunin Selection Exam." He turned the clipboard around, and Sakura's eyes narrowed as she sought out her own name. Then they widened as she saw the name of her opponent.

"Uzuki Ami," Sakura breathed to herself. She glanced at the next bracket over, seeing Ino's name. Her rival would be fighting Shimano Ren, she noted. If both of them won, she would get her rematch in the second round. She glanced at Ino. "You better not lose to Ren-san, Ino-pig," she stated.

Ino grinned. "I've got no intention of losing to anyone, Forehead," she returned. Chouji sighed.

Sakura's eyes skimmed the remainder of the match-ups. Rock Lee was fighting Chiba Ikkei, who had to be the other boy on the Waterfall team. Chouji was matched against Tenten. Neji was lucky enough to get a free pass to the second round. Sakura frowned as she noticed something. Neji would face the winner of a match between Mitokado Fuki and a Mizuno Midori.

Sakura glanced at Midori, who didn't notice her scrutiny. Something was odd there. Midori had all but said that she was a Haruno. Why would her official entry into the exam say otherwise? Sakura sighed. She didn't like the idea, but she was clearly going to have to tell someone, probably Tsunade, about this. Anything odd like that with the Mist was certainly a reason for concern.

"All right!" Anko shouted loudly, attracting all the genin's attention. "Work hard for the next month, little ones, so that we can all get a good show!" She grinned. "That's it! You're done for now!"

The genin began to mutter among themselves as their jounin teachers walked over. "Congratulations," Asuma said as he looked at his team. "All three of you did well." Before any of them could say anything, he laid a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Sakura-kun," he said, "Hokage-sama wants to talk to you."

Sakura glanced around and saw that Tsunade had already vanished into the keep, but that Shizune was standing by the open gates, looking at her. "All right," Sakura said after a moment, and she left her teammates - or rather, now her former teammates - behind.

Shizune nodded as she approached. "Right this way, Sakura-chan," she said, leading her to a small room. Shizune didn't enter, shutting the door after Sakura. Inside, Tsunade sat at a small desk piled with papers. It seemed as though even here, the Hokage couldn't escape paperwork.

"Haruno-kun," Tsunade said, then paused as though she was searching for words.

Sakura stiffened as Tsunade said her name. If she didn't tell her now, she'd never work up the courage to say it. "Hokage-sama," Sakura said, "may I say something first?" Tsunade nodded after a moment. "It's about Midori-san, from the Mist."

Tsunade frowned, searching through the papers on her desk and pulling one out. "Mizuno Midori?" she asked.

Sakura nodded. "During the second exam, we fought," she said. "Midori-san told me that she…" Sakura trailed off, swallowing nervously. "That she was a member of a Haruno Clan," she finished.

Tsunade blinked. "Haruno?" she asked frowning. "I guess," she began, before cutting off suddenly. "What do you know about your family?" she asked Sakura.

"I know my mother wasn't from the Leaf Village originally," Sakura answered. "My father was a Leaf ninja who died in the Kyuubi attack. They're the only other Haruno I've ever known about."

"I see," Tsunade said, frowning. "I'll have to look into this. Thank you for letting me know." She sighed. "I wish I could reward you with better news."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Hokage-sama?"

"We haven't been able to confirm all the details yet," Tsunade said softly, "but Hatake Kakashi is missing in action and presumed dead."

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings

1) I believe I've mentioned that I'm not going to try and make things match up with Part 2 of the manga. So just because he shows up there doesn't mean those reports of Kakashi's death are wrong. Just thought I'd get that out of the way.

2) Here are the complete match-ups for the first round of the third exam:

Hyuuga Neji byes  
"Mizuno" Midori fights Mitokado Fuki  
Shimano Ren fights Yamanaka Ino  
Uzuki Ami fights Haruno Sakura  
Aoki Saburo fights Yuhara Maya  
Tenten fights Akimichi Chouji  
Hiraki Arata fights Inuzuka Shinta  
Chiba Ikkei fights Rock Lee

The brackets are in that order, so Neji will fight the winner of Midori vs. Fuki in the second round, and the winner of that fight will fight the winner out of Ren, Ino, Ami, and Sakura in the semi-finals, and so forth. Feel free to make predictions for who will beat who. If someone manages to correctly predict the entire tournament, I might have to work out some sort of prize.

3) As always, I welcome all comments!

4) Next time, in One Hundred Days Chapter Seven, After the Battle: Sakura begins her training for the third exam, and the next stage of Naruto's journey begins.

Draft Started: January 23, 2006  
Draft Finished: February 8, 2006  
Draft Released: February 9, 2006  
Final Released: February 12, 2006


	8. Chapter 7: After the Battle

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 7: After the Battle

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, tigers.

* * *

**Day Forty-one**

Yakushi Kabuto found the practice of diplomacy to be extremely boring. In his admittedly limited experience with that art, it seemed to him that, almost always, the outcome of the long, repetitive discussions was never in doubt. By the time that formal representatives of two ninja villages actually sat at a table across from each other, both sides had already decided precisely what the maximum they would offer and the minimum they would accept were. So much time could be saved, Kabuto thought, if they could simply compare those lists and instantly derive the inevitable result, be it a peaceful compromise or continued war.

Instead, this elaborate charade had to be played out. The elderly Tsuchikage, in his role as host, had taken great relish in returning the three Sound ninja the Rock had captured near Iwakuro Hojo's estate, taking great pains to point out at length how gracious he was being. The lead Sound diplomat had been almost as lengthy in describing the great gratitude of Orochimaru and the daimyo of the Rice Field Country to the Rock and the Earth Country, while carefully not giving any sign that this would affect the negotiations with the Valley and the Hill Country.

This had taken most of a morning, after which the visibly tiring Tsuchikage had left. The remainder had been consumed by the two lead diplomats describing in great detail how their respective villages could not offer any sort of compromise and demanding almost everything short of unconditional surrender from their opposite number. Of course, everyone knew that this was absolutely not the case, or neither village would have sent representatives to discuss peace. The sole purpose of the completely unreasonable opening positions was to create demands that could be painlessly dropped in hopes of eliciting some real change in the other village's position. Kabuto guessed that by the end of the day, both sides would have reached their real opening offers, having accomplished precisely nothing with the initial, false openings.

Now, the diplomats had agreed to adjourn for lunch, and the Sound contingent was filing out of the chamber that had been set aside for the meeting. Kabuto, playing the role of a mere aide, would not be eating with the diplomats themselves, of course. Instead he would be left to his own devices until the meeting reconvened. That suited him well, of course. An opportunity to have a look at one of the five great ninja villages was not to be missed, particularly for a spy like himself. Much could be learned just by wandering about and seeing what could be seen without doing anything the Rock would take offense to.

As he began that wandering, Kabuto noticed that he was followed, and so let his course take him into an abandoned alley between two nondescript buildings. He noted without surprise the gray-uniformed Sound guard who approached him. Kabuto glanced about, finding that the Rock ninja perched on a rooftop who was supposed to be watching the pair of Sound had fallen asleep. Kabuto adjusted his glasses, smiling at the other Sound ninja. "I didn't expect you to attend this meeting yourself, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru laughed softly, pulling down the gray mask that obscured his face. "You're an observant one, Kabuto."

"I had best be, or you would be in need of a new spymaster, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto replied.

"So?" Orochimaru asked. "How did your mission go?"

"I ran across three ninja of the Kamizuru Clan, and was able to use them to test Naruto-kun," Kabuto said as he pulled out a large scroll. "I was also able to acquire a copy of that clan's once-lost techniques."

Orochimaru accepted the scroll. "Excellent," he said. "So, what of the Kyuubi brat?"

Kabuto adjusted his glasses again. "He was able to defeat the three Kamizuru, displaying a new manifestation of his demonic chakra." Kabuto paused as he searched for the best words. "The chakra formed a shroud over his body, much as Sasuke-kun described, only this time there were two tails, one smaller than the other. Naruto-kun did not seem to be able to control himself."

Orochimaru frowned. "Interesting," he said. "We may need to take steps, before Akatsuki moves again."

"If you order it, it will be done," Kabuto said.

Orochimaru waved hand slightly. "No need for now. Jiraiya will take the boy to Lightning Country after this. I'll know where to find them when the time comes. I have need for you elsewhere."

"As you will," was all Kabuto said in response.

Orochimaru nodded. "Our allies in the Mist will be making their move soon. I want you to lead our contribution to their attack. Return to the village and select your squads at once."

Kabuto nodded. "Understood." He smiled again. "I hope I get a chance to meet the Mist's spymaster in the Leaf."

"Oh?" Orochimaru asked.

"Whoever it is, he or she is very good. I still have my contacts in the Leaf Village," Kabuto said. "Most of them aren't even aware that Naruto-kun is Jiraiya-sama's apprentice, but the Mist were able to tell us about when they'd be leaving and warn us the night of the departure."

"Most of your active agents were uncovered, were they not?" Orochimaru replied. "It's not surprising the Mist's network is better than what's left."

Kabuto frowned. "Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama aren't sloppy. They wouldn't have written the date of Naruto-kun's departure down or discussed it where they could be overheard. That means there's not many people that information could have come from. Whoever it is must be very highly placed in the Hokage's office and very trusted."

"Any suspicions?" Orochimaru asked.

"I doubt that it's Tsunade-sama or Jiraiya-sama," Kabuto said. "Kakashi-san is highly unlikely, as well. The only other person I could think of who would have that information is Shizune-san."

"Shizune?" Orochimaru laughed. "You'd betray me long before she'd betray Tsunade-hime." He smiled.

Kabuto's face was impassive. "Yes, Orochimaru-sama." He bowed slightly. "By your leave?"

Orochimaru nodded. "Go."

* * *

The underground chamber was lit only by scattered candles, but Jiraiya could see well enough to do his work. A large brush in hand, the legendary Sannin was squatting in a corner of the room, adding the final characters to the intricate pattern in mixed ink and fox's blood that covered most of the floor of the dark chamber. It had taken far too long for Hojo's three genin students - chosen due to them already being involved, however slightly - to procure the fox, unfortunately. Jiraiya would have done it himself, except that he and his fallen student, so far as all save Hojo and those three knew, had left days ago to return to the Leaf Village to seek Tsunade's aid.

Sighing, Jiraiya set his brush aside after making the final stroke. He rose, stepping carefully through the pattern he had drawn as he walked to the bier that stood in the center of the room. Laying atop the cold stone, as naked as the day he was born, was the still-unconscious Naruto. Jiraiya rested a hand on his feverish forehead, sighing as he glanced at the boy's stomach. The Fourth's seal was clearly visible, despite the fact that Naruto hadn't molded the slightest bit of chakra in almost a week.

Jiraiya believed that he was perhaps the foremost sealing expert in the world. If he wasn't the best, there was only a short list of people above him. At a glance, he could identify all the components of that familiar spiral seal. He could list the properties of each without hesitating and, even had he not studied that seal many times before, venture a solid hypothesis as to how they would all work together to keep the Kyuubi enchained. All this knowledge told him that Naruto should never have been able to unleash the power he had unleashed, and that his student should not have been lying in a coma as he had been.

Unfortunately, the fact that it should have been impossible did not mean that it wasn't happening. Wishing he had a Hyuuga on hand, Jiraiya studied Naruto's still form once again. He had guesses as to what was going on, but he did not like operating on such flimsy information. There was no helping it, though. It was obvious that Naruto was not going to wake on his own, so these desperate measures would have to be taken. He could only hope that they wouldn't run into any serious trouble before they reached the Cloud Village.

The chamber's sole door opened and shut. Jiraiya didn't bother to look up to see who had entered. Only one person could have passed the seals that bound the door without forcing his way through. "Are you ready?" Iwakuro Hojo asked as he walked over to stand on the opposite side of the bier from the other legendary ninja. After glancing to make sure that Hojo's path had not disrupted the pattern, Jiraiya nodded. Hojo glanced about himself. "I must admit," he said after a moment, "this is beyond me. Tell me what I must do."

"I will need your chakra," Jiraiya answered, "and possibly some of your blood."

Hojo nodded. "Very well. You need only tell me when."

"We'll start simply," Jiraiya said as he stretched out a hand over Naruto's seal. Chakra began to stream from his fingertips as glowing characters appeared on each. "Five-Element Seal!" Jiraiya shouted as he plunged his hand onto Naruto's stomach. As he removed it, more black markings appeared, surrounding the spiral.

"Is that wise?" Hojo asked. "That seal will disrupt his chakra flow, and in the long run the imbalance will either break your seal or kill the boy."

Jiraiya nodded. "You are correct; this is not going to be a long term solution. However, before we can make any progress, we need to completely block the flow of chakra from the Kyuubi to Naruto." As though prompted by Jiraiya's words, Naruto began to scream loudly, and the new markings on his stomach began to glow an unhealthy red. Jiraiya's eyes narrowed as he studied the reaction.

Hojo also ignored Naruto's pained screams. "What's going on?" he asked. "The Five-Element Seal is being attacked from both sides!"

Jiraiya nodded grimly. "I expected as much." He didn't explain any more to Hojo. "There's no time to waste." Jiraiya's hands raced through hundreds of seals in a matter of seconds before stopping on a final seal. The intricate pattern that covered the floor began to glow, unearthly flames springing from the bloody ink. Hojo almost took as step back at the sheer sense of power that radiated from the Sannin.

"Chakra Sealing Method - Demon Fox Revision!" Jiraiya laid both of his hands on Naruto's chest. "Hojo," he stated, his voice tight with strain. "Channel as much chakra as you can into him. We need to force as much of Naruto's chakra into the seal as possible."

Wordlessly, Hojo complied, stiffening as he laid his hands on top of Jiraiya's. For several minutes that seemed like an eternity, the two ninja struggled. The Five-Element Seal faded from red to pink, then back to black, and Naruto's scream finally stopped. Breathing heavily, Hojo raised his hands, and a moment later Jiraiya did as well. The unnatural flames surrounding them vanished, and with them the pattern that had fed them. A tight spiral turning the opposite way from the Fourth's seal now rested on top of Naruto's heart.

The larger seal began to fade away, and Hojo sighed in relief. "Are we done?" As if to mock the Rock ninja, the fading stopped instantly, and the new seal began to glow. Crimson lines raced down Naruto's chest, heading from the new spiral to the larger seal.

A kunai appeared in Jiraiya's hands, and he sliced at his palm. He held the wound over Naruto's chest, letting his blood spill onto the new seal. Then he quickly began to trace characters in his own blood with one finger. Hojo's eyes widened as Jiraiya's finger raced along Naruto's skin. Each stroke of Jiraiya's finger was designed to take the place of dozens of characters in an ordinary sealing - something it took a true master of the art to do, and even for the best it was far from easy.

Jiraiya's hands raced through another set of seals as he finished. "Evil Sealing Method," he breathed as he laid one hand on top of the small spiral. The abbreviated characters crawled up Naruto's chest, and Naruto screamed again, though this time only briefly. When he stopped, another seal formed a circle around the spiral over his heart, and the larger spiral vanished instantly, the Five-Element Seal that surrounded it following a moment later.

"What now?" Hojo asked after a moment.

As if in answer, Naruto's eyes flicked open. "Ero-sennin?" he asked weakly.

Jiraiya let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Then he toppled over, unconscious from his exertions.

* * *

Sakura had not even stepped out of the door of Naruto's apartment, and she already knew that today was going to be a bad day. Despite the fact that she had gone to bed late, having spent most of the day heading back to the village from the site of the second exam, Sakura had not been able to sleep well. Tsunade had not been able to give her many details of her teacher's fate, besides the bare fact that he was probably dead. Apparently, the daimyo of the Swamp Country, who had been the client for his last mission, had reported that Kakashi had been slain protecting him from assassins.

Sakura forced herself to hold out hope that he still lived. The daimyo's message had reported that the body his men had discovered after the battle was almost unrecognizable. This was the reason that Kakashi's status, for the moment, was merely "missing in action and presumed dead," until Leaf ninja could examine the corpse themselves. It was a thin hope, but one Sakura found herself clinging to. She didn't think she could take it if she began to believe that her teacher would not return.

It was hard to say it, even to herself, but the matter of her teacher's potential death was not the greatest reason she knew today would be a bad day. While terrible, the thought of Kakashi being dead was distant and at least a little uncertain. She knew that today would be a bad day because she was going to try to speak with her mother, and that was neither far away nor possibly false. The Mist ninja Midori's revelations left her no choice in the matter. She simply had to confront her mother and find out why a Mist kunoichi claimed to be a member of a Haruno Clan. She could not just let the matter lie, as much as part of her wished to.

Sakura left Naruto's apartment, forcing herself to wave cheerfully as she passed the Ichiraku ramen stand. The owner waved back, but Sakura didn't pause. If she hesitated, she knew that she would find some excuse to put off this visit. She could not let herself do that, no matter how painful this conversation promised to be. She needed answers, and this was what she knew she had to do to get them.

Sakura quickly made her way through the familiar streets that led to her house. Despite her resolve, she froze wen a masked man briefly appeared on the rooftop opposite her house, waving for her to join him. Curiosity warring with fear, Sakura cautiously made her way up to the roof, taking care that no passerby saw her progress. When she arrived, the rooftop seemed empty, but a moment later the ANBU reappeared in front of her. A cloaking genjutsu, Sakura concluded easily.

"You are Haruno Sakura?" the masked man asked, though it was more a statement than a question.

Despite this, Sakura nodded. "Yes," she said quietly.

"By order of Hokage-sama," the ANBU continued, "I am to ask you to not contact Haruno Amaya-san at this time. Do you understand?"

Sakura's mind raced. Tsunade clearly did not want her mother to know about Midori's revelations and that she was aware of them. Sakura knew that she was only giving up so easily because part of her didn't really want to see her mother, but she nodded none the less. "Understood," she said weakly, as she thought through the exceedingly troubling potential reasons for the Hokage's order.

The ANBU's stance softened slightly. "This must be difficult for you," he said quietly. "You're doing the right thing."

"Thank you," Sakura managed to say, but she knew her worries were evident in her voice.

The ANBU coughed. "I'm also supposed to tell you," he said, "that Hokage-sama assures you that no matter what happens, she won't let any of it affect your status as a Leaf ninja."

Sakura hadn't even thought of that, and the mention made her even more worried despite the Hokage's promise. "Thank you," she repeated after a moment. "Is there anything else?" The ANBU shook his head, and faded from Sakura's sight.

For a long moment, Sakura stared across the street at her house. Even as part of her rejoiced in the excuse to avoid her mother, the rest of her began to once again return to the thorny knot of emotions and questions she had been doing her best to keep buried since her encounter with Midori. With supreme effort of will, she forced them down again. She had no time to waste. In less than thirty days, she would be standing in the arena against Uzuki Ami. She could not afford to let a single one of those days go to waste - if not for the match against Ami, then for the battles that would follow.

Her mind set, Sakura quickly headed for the library, where she spent a number of frustrating hours in study. It was infuriating, she decided, how the scrolls in the genin library hinted broadly at a number of useful techniques without actually providing enough information to learn them. Some of the simpler ones, she thought she might, with a great deal of trial and error, reverse-engineer. That process, though, would likely be time-consuming, error-prone, and potentially dangerous. She needed a teacher, and in her present situation calling her options limited would probably be overly generous.

Checking the time, Sakura realized that it was already almost three in the afternoon. Even when there was little useful knowledge to be gained, it seemed that she could lose herself far too easily in study. Shaking her head, Sakura stood and returned the last set of scrolls she had been studying to their places before leaving the library and walking the short distance to the ninja academy.

By the time she reached that building, the young students were already being let out for the day. Ignoring them, Sakura entered the building, moving through the familiar halls to the back of the building, where the teacher's offices were located. As she passed the room that had once belonged to Mizuki, Sakura hesitated. What had happened to him, anyway? She hadn't seen him since she'd graduated, had she?

Shaking her head to clear it of the question, Sakura continued walking down the back hall to the office of another teacher. Once there, rapped once on the door. "Come in," came Iruka's voice a moment later, and Sakura entered. Her old academy instructor looked up from the paperwork on his desk in surprise. "Sakura-chan?" he asked. "What brings you here?"

Sakura seated herself on a stool in front of Iruka's desk. "I'm taking the Chuunin Exam again," she said.

Iruka nodded. "I've already seen the schedule for the third exam. Congratulations."

"Thank you," Sakura said automatically. She hesitated, searching for the right words to speak. "Yesterday, Hokage-sama told me that Kakashi-sensei is probably…" She trailed off. She couldn't bring herself to say that her teacher was probably dead. "He won't be able to train me for the third exam," she finished weakly.

Iruka's eyes widened, and Sakura could tell that he understood what she hadn't been able to tell him. "I see," he said after a moment. "I'm sorry."

Sakura nodded. "Iruka-sensei," she said after a moment, "I need someone to train me."

Iruka grimaced. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I wish I could, but I can't. The end-of-year examinations are coming up, and the academy is short-handed since half the teachers have been called back to active duty. I don't have anywhere near enough time." He sighed. "Even if I did, I don't know if I could give you the right sort of training. I'm still only a chuunin myself, after all."

Sakura's face fell. "I see," she said quietly. "Isn't there anything you can do?"

Iruka studied her for a long moment. "I can give you a piece of advice," he said. "Remember the motto of the chuunin."

"The motto?" Sakura asked, frowning in thought. "If you do not possess Heaven," she muttered, "gain knowledge and be prepared."

"And if you do not possess Earth," Iruka prompted.

"Run in the fields and seek strength," Sakura finished. She stood. "I think I understand. Thank you, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka nodded. "Do your best," he said, "and good luck."

* * *

**Day Forty-two**

"You don't remember?" Jiraiya asked his student disbelievingly. The two Leaf ninja had been relocated to another underground chamber, though one much more comfortable than the one where Jiraiya had performed the sealing yesterday.

Naruto shook his head. "I figured out that it was those weird bee people, then Kabuto-san hit me, and the next thing I know I'm waking up here."

Jiraiya sighed. "I see. I suppose there's nothing to be done for that."

"How many days did you say I was out for?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya told him, and he began to count on his fingers. "The second part of the chuunin exam is over, then!" he declared after a moment. "I hope Sakura-chan's all right."

"We have more pressing concerns," Jiraiya responded. "I'm afraid there's no way that we'll be heading back to the Leaf Village in time for the third exam now." Naruto looked ready to protest, but a glare from his teacher kept him quiet. "We're going to be heading to Lightning Country now."

"Eh?" Naruto asked. "Why?"

"Because," Jiraiya said, suddenly laying a hand on Naruto's stomach, "it seems your house guest is getting a little too frisky for comfort."

Naruto paled instantly. "What happened?" he asked quietly.

Jiraiya didn't say anything for a moment. "You fought the three Kamizuru and won," he said flatly. "Or rather, your body did, it seems."

"Is that why I feel so," Naruto began.

"Weak?" Jiraiya asked. "Part of it is that you were out for almost a week. Most of it is what I had to do to wake you up. Did Hojo tell you anything while I was asleep?"

Naruto shook his head. "He said to wait until you woke up."

"Good," Jiraiya said. "Do you remember when we talked about your two kinds of chakra?" Now Naruto nodded. "I had to block off your second type of chakra with a seal."

"That's his, right?" Naruto asked quietly, rubbing at his own stomach.

"Yes," Jiraiya said. "He didn't take kindly to that, I'm afraid. He was trying to tear down the new seal." Jiraiya gestured at Naruto's chest. "Have you seen the new seals there?" Naruto nodded again. "I had to seal away most of your chakra to stop him. That's why you feel so weak." Jiraiya paused, as though considering just what to say. "That wasn't enough, so I had to add a third seal to keep your chakra bottled up. That type of seal draws power from your own will, boy. Can you feel it?"

Naruto's hand rested over his heart for moment before he nodded. "I think so," he said quietly.

"When the time comes, you can release that seal yourself and your chakra will start to escape." Jiraiya gave Naruto a hard look. "Don't do that unless you're about to die."

Naruto gulped. "Right," he said quietly. A moment later ,he spoke more loudly. "So why are we going to Lightning Country anyway?"

"We're going to visit another friend of mine," Jiraiya said simply. "She should be able to help us with your problem." He sighed. "It'll be a little tricky, though, since she lives in the Cloud Village. Thankfully, Hojo will be providing us with some papers that should get us there without incident." Jiraiya paused. "That's not the only problem. Word of the little brawl we had is going to spread like wildfire, and we know Orochimaru already knows where we are. There's going to be some unfriendly people looking for us."

"What are we going to do?" Naruto asked.

"Disguises," Jiraiya said simply as he pulled out a small pouch. "Sit still, boy. The first thing I'm going to do is get rid of those whiskers of yours."

"Can't we just transform?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya took out a small brush and a tiny tin. "What's the longest time you've kept the Transformation Technique active?" he asked casually.

"Most of a night," Naruto answered after a moment, remembering his battle against the team from Hidden Rain in the Forest of Death.

"And how exhausted were you after that?" Jiraiya began to unscrew the tin.

"I was pretty tired," Naruto answered after a moment.

"That technique is really hard to keep up for more than a few hours. The way you are right now, I don't think you could last more than one or two," Jiraiya said as he stuck the brush in the now-open tin, which contained a white powder. "We're talking about days and weeks, here, boy. Nobody can keep a technique active for that long." Without waiting for any further comment, he began to brush the powder along Naruto's cheeks.

"Ow!" Naruto said, flinching away. "That hurts!"

"I said to stay still, boy," Jiraiya said harshly as he continued to work. "This isn't just ordinary makeup," he continued. "It's what ANBU use to hide their tattoos when they go undercover. It won't come off in water, and it'll last for two weeks at least if I don't take it off. It's worth a little pain."

When Jiraiya was finished, Naruto rubbed at his cheeks, glancing at a mirror in the corner of the room. "It looks so weird," he said.

"You'll look even weirder when we're done," Jiraiya said. "We're going to change your hair color for sure. We want to make sure that anybody looking for an old man and a young boy matching our descriptions will pass right over us." Jiraiya rubbed at his chin suddenly. "I wonder," he said before trailing off.

"What?" Naruto asked after a moment.

Jiraiya ignored him, giving the boy a measuring gaze. "At your age," he muttered, half to himself, "there's not that much difference in body structure that can't be easily covered up with clothing. Your voice hasn't changed yet, so with a little practice we'll be fine on that."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto demanded.

"Be quiet a minute," Jiraiya demanded. He began to work through seals slowly, clearly working out the proper sequence as he went along. "That should do it," he said as he laid a hand on Naruto's head. Naruto's hair began to lengthen, growing at impossible speed. As it reached his shoulders, Jiraiya removed his hand, breathing heavily. "That took more chakra than I expected." He surveyed his handiwork. "I'll have to do some trimming to make it look right, but it'll do."

Naruto grabbed at his suddenly long hair. "What did you do that for!"

Jiraiya grinned evilly. "Look at it as an opportunity to master one of your techniques," he said as he rose from the cot he'd been sitting on.

"Eh?" Naruto asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Wait here," Jiraiya said. "I need to ask Hojo for some supplies." He left the chamber, leaving the puzzled Naruto alone. When he returned almost an hour later, he carried a large bundle of clothing, which he set down on his cot. "We're lucky that Mako girl is about the same size as you," he commented.

"What?" Naruto asked, rising suddenly. "Ero-sennin, I am not going to -"

"Yes, you are," Jiraiya said flatly. He tossed several articles of clothing at Naruto. "Go ahead and put those on."

Naruto fingered a pair of panties. "Even," he began.

"Yes," Jiraiya said. "Just in case." Naruto opened his mouth, and the legendary Sannin glared at him. "Don't argue," he said simply. "I know what I'm doing."

Several minutes later, Naruto was staring uncomfortably at himself in the mirror. While the outfit he wore was not overly feminine, consisting of a dark purple shirt, brown pants, and a black jacket, combined with his longer hair, now dyed brown and tied back in a simple ponytail, there was no doubt that the person who stared back at him looked like a girl. "Are you sure I have to do this?" he whined plaintively.

"Yes," Jiraiya answered simply. "For now, girl," he said, pausing as Naruto winced at the last word, "your name will be Naru. You shouldn't have any trouble answering to that. Do you understand, girl?"

"Yes," Naruto answered weakly.

"Good," Jiraiya said. "Now, it might happen that you'll wind up in some situation where other people will see you undressed. In those cases, you'll need to transform. Show me what you think you would look like nude."

Naruto glared at his teacher. "Pervert," he declared.

"I assure you," Jiraiya said dryly, "thirteen-year-old girls do nothing for me. Now, do it!" When Naruto complied, he nodded. "Not bad," he said. "The breasts are way too large, though, and some of the other details are off." He then began to give a list of those mistakes, and Naruto was blushing furiously by the time he finished. "Try again," Jiraiya commanded.

After five or six tries, Jiraiya was mostly satisfied. "What now?" Naruto asked him.

"I want you to keep on practicing that transformation," Jiraiya answered. "You'll need to do it quickly when the time comes. If you can manage it without having to form the seal, even better. I'm going to work on my disguise, and then we'll work on how you'll need to act. Looks are only part of a good disguise."

"Who will you be?" Naruto asked.

"I'll be your uncle Jiro," Jiraiya replied, "who raised you since your parents died when you were young. That should help explain it when you act too much like a boy." He rose. "Now get to work, girl. We've got a lot to do before we'll be ready to leave, and I want to leave tomorrow."

* * *

Yamanaka Inoichi was very obviously trying to hide his nervousness with irritation as the pair of masked ANBU brought him before Tsunade. "I suppose now," he said without preamble, "I will learn why ANBU have been spying on me while I tried to train my daughter for the third exam," he said.

As always standing behind Tsunade, Shizune looked like she was about to scold Inoichi for his lack of respect, but Tsunade waved a hand to quiet her. "You can go," the Hokage told the two ANBU. "I won't be in any danger." As the ANBU wordlessly left, Tsunade folded her hands in front of her face and turned her gaze on Inoichi. "So you noticed, Yamanaka-kun."

"I am a jounin," Inoichi said. "Of course I noticed." For an instant, real anger flared in his eyes. "I've already wasted a full day of training because I didn't want to spill my family secrets in front of them."

"I assure you, that should be the least of your concerns," Tsunade said dryly. "We wanted to see if you would contact or be contacted by Haruno Amaya or our guests from the Mist. ANBU recommended that you immediately be brought in for interrogation, but I overruled them."

Inoichi's anger vanished instantly, and he seemed to wither where he stood. "You know, then," he said quietly. "About Midori."

"Yes." Tsunade's eyes were hard. "I suggest you start talking now."

After a moment, Inoichi nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama." He paused, clearly sorting his thoughts. "My student, Mitokado Takeru, met Haruno Amaya in the Mist Village while our team was on an extended diplomatic mission there. This was during the war with the Cloud, and we were trying to convince the Mist alliance to join the war on our side."

"I might have left the village," Tsunade said, "but I do not need a history lecture."

"Yes, Hokage-sama. That time was a bad time to be a member of a clan of doujutsu users in the Water Country. Takeru saved Amaya from an over-zealous ninja who didn't care much about the precise definition of a Bloodline Limit. One thing led to another, and Sakura-chan was the result." Inoichi paused. "Takeru-kun never knew, but before he died he was still trying to arrange to have his engagement annulled and bring Amaya to the Leaf Village."

"I see," Tsunade said. "And why is there no mention of this in the records?"

Inoichi looked down. "The village council was looking for any reason to reject Amaya and Sakura-chan. I told the Third, of course, but he agreed that I should keep it out of my official testimony, and I advised Amaya to do the same."

"And why did you not tell me this?" Tsunade pressed, her voice sharp.

"Because," Inoichi said, looking up, "it was obvious that you had taken an interest in Sakura-chan, and it wasn't hard to figure out what for. I didn't want to say anything that would make her lose that chance. If that was a crime, I am guilty."

Tsunade sighed. "Do you think so little of me?"

"I hardly know you, Hokage-sama," Inoichi said. "You left the village when I was young and returned only a few months ago." He sighed. "I care for Sakura-chan almost as much as my own daughter. If Amaya had asked, I would have adopted her into the Yamanaka Clan in an instant. I even asked to be put back in rotation to be a jounin teacher for her class, but it was obvious that Hatake-san would get her when the Third decided to place her in the Uchiha's team over my objections."

"Your objections?" Tsunade asked.

Inoichi smiled wryly. "You didn't have to deal with a heartbroken daughter sobbing into her pillow every night for weeks after that." His face turned serious. "Besides, I didn't want Sakura-chan on a team with a dem-"

"You will not speak of Uzumaki Naruto so in my presence!" Tsunade interjected angrily. "Do you understand, Yamanaka-san?"

After a moment, Inoichi looked away, clearly ashamed. "Forgive me, Hokage-sama," he said. "That was how I thought at the time."

Tsunade frowned. "You've had a change of heart?" she asked, anger replaced by curiosity.

"I was worried about Sakura-chan being on the same team as him," Inoichi said. "I spoke with Hatake-san, and he told me to watch one of his team's training sessions." He shook his head, smiling sadly. "It was blatantly obvious that Naruto-kun had the world's biggest crush on Sakura-chan and would die before hurting her. I fought the Kyuubi, and I don't think that demon could even understand such an emotion, much less experience it."

Tsunade relaxed slightly. "I see," she said quietly. "If only everyone could see what you have."

"More than you would think have, one way or another, at least among the ninja," Inoichi said after a moment. "Naruto-kun fought Hyuuga Neji in the exams six months ago. At the start of that match, I doubt ten people in the arena were rooting for him. By the end of it, I doubt ten people weren't." Inoichi grinned slightly. "Part of it was just that Neji-kun was such an unmitigated ass that the demon itself would probably have looked good in comparison."

Tsunade smiled herself. "I see," she said after a moment. "Is there anything else you think I should know about the Haruno?" Inoichi shook his head. "You can go, then," Tsunade continued, and Inoichi let himself out.

"That was interesting," Shizune said after the door shut behind him.

"Yes," Tsunade said. "Why don't you go tell those ANBU to fetch Mitarashi Kimi for me? Let's see what our guests from the Mist have to say for themselves."

Shortly thereafter, the two ANBU brought the Mist jounin into the Hokage's office. This time, Tsunade did not tell the ANBU to leave, and they took up positions by the door. "I wonder," Mitarashi Kimi said lightly, "what would happen if I said something along the lines of 'my real mission begins now.'"

"You would die," Tsunade said simply. "You are in no position to be making jests, Mitarashi Kimi."

Kimi shrugged. "If I only made jests when I was in a position to do so, I would not have made a single joke since the Leaf killed my parents." Tsunade frowned at this, and Kimi grinned. "My little sister never told you? There's actually a chance you were the one, I think. I seem to remember hearing that the legendary Sannin were at that battle." She shrugged. "It's not important now, though." Glancing back at the ANBU, she smiled again. "It's actually rather convenient those two showed up. I was actually wondering how I could get an audience with you to make a request."

"Your request can wait," Tsunade said, "until we have discussed one of your students." Her hands folded in front of her face. "A Haruno Midori, I believe."

Kimi sighed. "It seems I'll have to have another talk with her. She told Anko's student, didn't she?"

Tsunade nodded, glancing down at a piece of paper on her desk - Midori's exam entry form. "Care to explain why we were given the name Mizuno Midori?"

Kimi nodded. "Very well. For such a small clan, there are a surprising number of missing ninja from the Haruno. It has to do with some unfortunate nastiness during the Bloodline Purges. Because of my report that a girl calling herself Haruno Sakura was working for the Leaf, I was ordered to use this opportunity to investigate whether the Leaf were sheltering one or more of those ninja. It was decided that openly sending a Haruno risked tipping off the missing ninja. I chose to have Midori enter the exam under a false name rather than split up my team."

"There are treaties covering this kind of matter," Tsunade said. "There's no need for such subterfuge."

Kimi laughed. "Those treaties aren't worth the paper they're written on, and everyone knows it. Wasn't there an incident a few months back where you found out that one of your missing ninja was working as a jounin for the Rain? The Rain are your allies and the treaties on missing ninja were still meaningless."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "The Mist are well informed."

"We try," Kimi said, smiling slightly. "In any case, the matter is dealt with. You can even change Midori's registration officially if you want."

"Oh?" Tsunade asked.

Kimi slowly pulled out a small pamphlet. "I was given what we knew on all known Haruno outside the Mist to facilitate identification." She flipped through the pamphlet, then handed it to Tsunade. "Haruno Amaya," Kimi said simply.

Tsunade quickly glanced at the entry, passing over the old picture of a young girl close to Sakura's age and looking at the only writing on the page besides a handful of outdated vital statistics. "Refused to take the genin exam and discharged without restriction. Do not pursue," she read aloud before returning the pamphlet to Kimi.

"Are you satisfied?" Kimi asked.

"For now," Tsunade said. "So, what did you want?"

Kimi smiled. "I would like to train my students for the final exam in private. It isn't feasible to return to the Water Country and make it back here in time, though."

Tsunade nodded. "That's reasonable enough. I can set aside one of the large-scale training grounds for use by your team. I'll have to put guards on the outside, of course, but other than that you can have it to yourself."

Kimi nodded. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," she said politely. "That's all I wanted. May I depart?"

"Escort our guest out," Tsunade told the ANBU. Once Kimi was gone, she sighed. "It looks like we don't have that much of a problem after all, thankfully," she said after a moment.

"Yes," Shizune said. "What do you want done?"

"Go ahead and drop the surveillance on Yamanaka Inoichi. Keep watching Haruno Amaya for another week, but I can't justify any longer unless something turns up, given how short-handed we are."

Shizune nodded. "I'll take care of it."

* * *

**Day Forty-three**

Sakura didn't make any effort to hide her presence as she slowly approached the training ground. Getting accused of attempted spying would only start her off on the wrong foot here. Best to give the people she was going to ask a great favor of sufficient time to notice her and prepare themselves for a visit from one of their opponents. It was only polite, after all.

Sakura had known who she would have to approach as soon as she had left Iruka's office, but she had still spent most of her time since then coming up with an alternative. She knew that should her request be granted, she would be receiving possibly the best training possible in her weakest field, but the thought of the form that training might take scared her. If she could have thought of anyone else, she might have taken that option, but there were none that she could see. All the other jounin teachers she knew were out of the question for various reasons.

When she entered the training ground, Sakura noted with relief that there were only three people there - Maito Gai, Rock Lee, and Tenten. That made things easier. "Good morning," she said.

"Good morning, Sakura-san!" Rock Lee said with a wave.

"Haruno," Tenten said, nodding in greeting. Their teacher just looked at Sakura, a strangely serious expression on his face.

"I take it Neji-san is training with his family?" Sakura asked when it became apparent Gai would say nothing.

Lee nodded. "I look forward to seeing what he will learn in the finals," he said simply. "It will be an interesting match."

Tenten sighed. "There's no guarantee you'll both make it that far," she said, her voice making it clear that she had said this many times. Her attention then returned to Sakura. "Why did you come here?" she asked.

"Gai-sensei," Sakura said. "Have you… heard about Kakashi-sensei?"

Gai nodded. "I have," he said softly. "You wish for me to train you in his place?"

Tenten and Rock Lee traded a look, and after a moment Lee spoke. "What happened?"

"He probably won't be back in time for the third exam," Gai responded smoothly when Sakura didn't answer.

Sakura nodded, struggling to keep her face smooth. "I'm on the opposite side of the bracket from you two," she told Gai's students. "We could only meet in the final match, and in the unlikely event of that occurring we'll probably have shown all our moves already. This won't put you at any disadvantage."

"Even if we were facing each other in the first round," Lee said, "I would agree, Sakura-san."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "We know, Lee. We know." She sighed. "It's fine by me, I suppose."

"Thank you," Sakura said.

"I'm not a genjutsu-type," Gai said after a moment. "I can't give you that sort of training."

"That's fine," Sakura said. "It's taijutsu training I'm looking for."

"Taijutsu? You?" Tenten asked disbelievingly, then she glanced at the orange warmers Sakura still wore out of habit, even though she no longer had weights to wear under them. "Well, maybe," Tenten corrected herself.

Gai's gaze had followed Tenten's. "You shouldn't have left the weights I gave you before behind," he said.

"Sorry," Sakura said, glancing downward. "I didn't think of that."

Gai shrugged. "Mitarashi was able to get them back for me, so it's no big problem," he said. "I suspected that you might come for another set, so I prepared these." He tossed two weights at Sakura, who staggered as she caught them. "We'll start you off easy. That set is only twice the weight of the pair you were wearing before."

Sakura resisted the urge to groan as she slipped the weights onto her legs. "Thank you," she forced herself to say, even as she was inwardly shuddering at the aches and pains that awaited her as she adjusted to the new, heavier weights. She took several halting steps, trying to judge how much the weight was impairing her.

Gai nodded approvingly. "Very well." He turned to his students. "Lee!" he said sharply.

Lee stood straighter. "Yes, Gai-sensei!"

"It is said that the best way to truly master something is to try to teach it," Gai declared. Tenten glanced between the two male ninja and sighed, covering her eyes with one hand. "Indeed," Gai continued, seemingly oblivious, "many times in teaching my darling students have I noticed some aspect of the subject of that had previously escaped me! Truly, you are all a blessing to me!"

"Gai-sensei!" Lee cried happily.

"Today, you too shall have that great opportunity!" Gai stated. "I ask you to evaluate Sakura-chan's current level of taijutsu and to then start working on her strength and endurance, while I work with Tenten on ninjutsu!"

Lee nodded. "Yes, Gai-sensei!"

"Come, Tenten!" Gai stated and began to walk off. With another sigh, Tenten followed her teacher, leaving Lee and Sakura alone.

Sakura stared at Lee for a moment. "What should I do?" she asked finally.

Lee frowned, straightening into a fighting stance and beckoning at her. "Come at me, Sakura-san," he said simply. Sakura nodded, her mind racing through options quickly. Almost instinctively, her hands formed the first seal for the Perfect Replication Technique. "No, Sakura-san," Lee said softly, suddenly standing in front of her and pulling her hands gently apart. "No ninjutsu or genjutsu."

Sakura nodded. "Sorry," she said, grinning weakly. "Force of habit."

In an instant, Lee was back where he had stood before, beckoning again. "Now, come," he stated.

Particularly with a new pair of heavy weights slowing her down, Sakura knew that her ability with pure taijutsu was limited at best. Lee was so much faster than her that there was no chance of getting around behind him or at his sides, leaving her with no choice but a futile frontal assault. Still, she charged, hoping that Lee would at least be gentle.

The next several minutes were tiring and humiliating for the kunoichi. She pressed an all-out attack on Lee, but the green-clad ninja didn't seem to break a sweat avoiding her attacks. He never counter-attacked, simply letting Sakura strike at him again and again, dodging so rapidly that Sakura swore her fists never got within a foot of him, even though he stayed directly in front of her. Finally, Sakura collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily. "I'm done," she gasped out.

Lee nodded. "Textbook academy taijutsu," Lee stated. "Your family has no special style, then."

Sakura swallowed, doing her best to ignore the churning emotions that statement raised in her. "Not that I know of," she replied quietly. Lee raised one of his mighty eyebrows at that, and Sakura shook her head. "It's complicated," was all she said.

Lee seemed to accept that. "Strong Fist Style is an expansion that builds upon the standard style taught in the academy," he continued. "Your basic technique and form is good, Sakura-san, but your strength, speed, and endurance aren't at the level they need to be to start learning Strong Fist Style." He grinned slightly. "We can change that."

Sakura nodded. "What should I do?"

Lee gestured at a wooden training post. "One hundred punches with each arm," he said. "Then one hundred kicks with each leg. If you can't make it through that, you'll have to do two hundred push-ups." It took all of Sakura's willpower not to groan as she stood and walked over to the training post. Lee nodded. "Begin."

* * *

Naruto and Jiraiya had left Hojo's estate early in the morning, long before the sun had risen. For once, Naruto had not complained about the early hour, for he had far too many other things he would like to complain about. Somehow, though, he knew that voicing those complaints would be worse than futile. During his crash course in "acting like a girl, or at least like a tomboy" the previous day, Jiraiya had threatened to change his own disguise to be Naruto's boyfriend if the genin made any more protests. That was a horrid enough fate that Naruto was able to choke down his complaints without too much difficulty.

It didn't change the fact that Naruto felt weird, though. The simple physical sensation of his now-longer hair was odd enough. He always started whenever he caught his reflection in a puddle of water. Worst of all were the few times so far their path had crossed that of other travelers. None had given him a second glance, but he couldn't decide whether it would be more embarrassing to be found out as a boy than it was to successfully pass as a girl.

Yesterday, Jiraiya told him that he shouldn't mind so much, considering that he'd created the Sexy Technique, but that wasn't how Naruto saw it. The Sexy Technique was just a ninjutsu that was useful against perverts; this was something entirely different and way more perverted. Sakura would probably beat him within an inch of his life if she saw him like this. If she even realized it was him, that was, Naruto thought with a grimace. He couldn't even recognize himself right now.

Jiraiya had seemed to adjust to his own disguise with much more ease, but then it was not nearly so drastic a change. He'd hidden his facial tattoos with the same powder that had obscured the whisker-like marks on Naruto's face, then added an ugly, jagged fake scar down one side of his face. His hair had been dyed brown as well and tied up into a topknot. Naruto wasn't certain how, but Jiraiya had made himself look far younger, now seeming to be in his late twenties at the oldest. Finally, he now carried on his back a thin, curved sword that seemed almost too long to wield effectively. He looked every bit the mercenary the papers he had gotten from Hojo claimed he was.

They had stopped for lunch in a small stand of trees by the road that seemed to have been planted for just that purpose, and now Jiraiya was half-sprawled out on the ground, idling flipping through an illustrated copy of one of his own books that he'd picked up in a small town they'd briefly passed through that morning. Naruto sniffed. "Pervert."

Jiraiya smiled lazily. "Naru-chan," he said after a moment.

It was only due to the rather intense training of the previous day that Naruto resisted the urge to grimace at what Jiraiya had called him. "What, Uncle?" he asked, barely remembering not to say Ero-sennin.

Jiraiya's smile widened, at though he'd noticed what Naruto had almost said. Then his face turned serious. "There's nobody for a mile around," he said, "so I'll talk plainly for a moment. You don't have anywhere near as much chakra as you're used to right now. If we get into a fight, you're going to need to know what techniques you can still use, and what your limits are. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes."

"Good," Jiraiya responded. "You've already practiced the Transformation Technique, so you certainly have enough chakra to use the Replacement Technique. Be careful, though. You won't be able to use it nearly as quickly as you're used to."

"Right," Naruto said with another nod.

"Let's see just what sort of shape your chakra reserves are in," Jiraiya continued. "I want you to make as many replications as you can at once."

"All right," Naruto said, his hands racing through familiar seals. "Shadow Replication Technique!" Only a single clone appeared, then it fell to his knees, gasping for breath. The real Naruto followed suit a moment later.

"Idiot!" Jiraiya snarled. "Release the technique quickly!" The clone vanished in a puff of smoke, and the remaining Naruto looked a little stronger. "Idiot," Jiraiya repeated. "Normal replications, not shadow replications! The Shadow Replication Technique divides your chakra evenly, and you don't have enough chakra to do anything useful like that." He sighed. "Take a moment to catch your breath, then try normal replications."

Naruto laughed nervously. "I'm not very good with that technique." He reached up to scratch the back of his neck, only to yank his hand away as it brushed against his ponytail.

Jiraiya blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"The Replication Technique was always my worst technique back in the academy," Naruto said. "I could never make it work right."

"The Shadow Replication Technique is more difficult in every conceivable way than the Replication Technique," Jiraiya said. "There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to perform the Replication Technique. Try it."

"But," Naruto began, only to cut off as Jiraiya glared at him. "All right," he said, slowly forming seals. "Replication Technique!" Four clones appeared around him, and he looking about in wonder. "It worked!" he exclaimed as he let the replications vanish.

"Of course it did," Jiraiya said. He flipped a few more pages in his book. "There's no point in even trying Rasengan. If four replications is all you can manage, there's no way you can use that technique."

Naruto wasn't paying attention, however. "I wonder," he said as his hands raced through a quick set of seals. He slipped into the ground as though it was water, then popped back above ground an instant later. "The underground fish thing," he exclaimed once he'd finished. "I could never get it to work right except for my shadow replications before, but now it's working fine!"

"Interesting," Jiraiya said, his eyes narrowing. "I wish I'd had the time to take a look at your problem before." He didn't say anything for a moment, then nodded. "Practice the other earth element techniques Hojo taught you," he said, "but remember that you don't have the chakra to make them work just by pushing things around. You have to merge your chakra with the earth the way I was telling you before."

Naruto nodded, and set to work without complaint. Jiraiya watched him, his eyes never glancing to the book in his hands. Naruto was having more success with the earth element techniques than Jiraiya had hoped. While his weakened chakra reserves weren't large enough to make most of them terribly useful, particularly with the Five-Element Seal impairing his already poor chakra control, Naruto actually could successfully execute the techniques. So far as Jiraiya could tell, Naruto had somehow picked up the proper way to do things, rather than having to rely on the raw force he no longer had.

Jiraiya frowned as he considered this. They couldn't reach the Cloud Village too soon. If the worst scenario he could form from his observations was true, he wasn't certain whether it would ever be safe to undo the seals he'd placed on Naruto. Yet he knew that leaving them would ultimately kill the boy, assuming his resulting weakness didn't get him killed by Orochimaru or Akatsuki first. He could only hope that his friend would be able to help his student in that case. If she couldn't, he didn't know who else he could turn to.

* * *

**Day Forty-four**

The port city was the busiest place Naruto had ever been. The dock district alone was easily as large as the entire Leaf Village, and if it weren't for Jiraiya's rather more impressive form cutting a way through the throngs of people Naruto was certain he would have been swept away by the crowds. He felt deaf, unable to make out any but the loudest sounds from the indistinct roaring that surrounded him. He had long since given up on trying to figure out where they were headed, keeping his focus entirely on simply not losing sight of Jiraiya's broad back.

Suddenly, another figure cut across Naruto's path, causing the disguised boy to slam into him. Naruto stumbled backward, running into another man. "Hey!" the second man said, shoving Naruto forward. "Watch where you're going, you little bitch!"

The man Naruto had run into first laughed. "Maybe we should teach her a small lesson," he said menacingly, slamming his fist into the palm of his other hand as he turned to face Naruto. Despite the fact that the street was crowded, there was suddenly a circle of empty space around the trio.

The other man chuckled, laying a hand on Naruto's shoulder. As Naruto wrenched himself free, the man smiled. "I don't know, she's sort of cute for such a little thing. Maybe she could convince us to be merciful, Manabu." Naruto's eyes widened. They couldn't possibly be thinking what it seemed like they were thinking.

"Excuse me," Jiraiya said suddenly as he appeared behind Manabu, tapping him on the shoulder. The circle of people Naruto hadn't realized were watching hushed.

"What do you want?" Manabu asked.

Jiraiya slugged him. "That's my niece you're talking to," he said flatly. "Apologize."

The other man snarled, pulling out a dagger. "Your little girl is gonna pay for that," he threatened.

In an instant, a kunai was in Naruto's hands, the point resting on the man's gut. "I'm a ninja, pervert," he said. "Don't even think about it." Jiraiya's hand was now resting on the hilt of his over-sized sword.

Manabu's eyes widened. "A kunoichi? Damn it," he muttered. "Of all the luck."

The other man dropped his dagger. "Sorry," he gasped out. "I didn't know!"

"You think that makes it better?" Jiraiya asked. "Get out of here, scum, before I decide to make the daughters of this city a bit safer." The two men didn't waste time on words, vanishing almost as quickly as if they were ninja themselves. Jiraiya glanced about at the circle of people around him. "What are you looking at, cowards?" he demanded, and suddenly those people too had somewhere more important to be. Jiraiya nodded in satisfaction.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he put up his kunai. In his current state, he wasn't entirely certain he'd have been able to beat his attackers without getting himself hurt. They might not have been ninja, but they'd been bigger than Naruto, and they'd gotten the drop on him since he hadn't been expecting trouble. If Jiraiya hadn't noticed them, he might have been in a serious situation.

Jiraiya smiled softly at his student. "Come on," was all he said as he turned to continue on his way. "You need to stick closer to me."

"Yes, Uncle," Naruto said as he followed.

"Still," Jiraiya said lightly, "your first day in the big city and you've already picked up two suitors. You certainly are precocious, Naru-chan."

Naruto blinked. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he screeched, and Jiraiya laughed.

However, when Jiraiya next spoke, Naruto could hear the seriousness in it, despite the forced lightness of his tone. "I also saw another boy who was interested in you," Jiraiya said. "From back home, actually. What was his name? That four-eyes?"

Naruto's eyes widened. Kabuto was here? "Did he -"

"I don't think he recognized you," Jiraiya said. "You've changed a lot since the last time he saw you." He glanced backward at Naruto, grinning. "But you'd best be careful not to remind him, unless you want another suitor."

Naruto nodded seriously, easily understanding the warning behind the mocking words. "Right," he said quietly.

Jiraiya nodded once, then turned away again, leading Naruto alongside the forest of masts that was the wharfs. "Here we go," he said, "we've reached where the ships from Lightning Country are docked."

There were much fewer people here, Naruto noted. "Why would they all have to dock in one place?" he asked as he continued to follow his disguised teacher.

"To make it easier to keep an eye on them," Jiraiya responded as he stopped near a small ship that was currently being loaded. "Excuse me," he shouted at one of the sailors. "Is this ship heading back to Lightning Country?"

The sailor set down the small crate he'd been about to lift. "What's it to you, stranger?" he asked.

"My niece and I need passage there," Jiraiya answered. "We can pay."

The sailor nodded as he picked up the crate. "I'll get the first mate," he said simply, then he walked off.

A few moments later, a stocky man approached Jiraiya. "Passengers to Lightning Country, huh?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "This isn't a luxury ship," he stated. "You get a place to spread your bedrolls below decks and the same food the crew eats. If we get caught in a bad storm, you'll have to lend a hand."

Jiraiya nodded. "That won't be a problem."

The first mate's eyes narrowed as he studied Jiraiya and Naruto. "Are you two ninja?" he asked suddenly. When Jiraiya nodded, the man's eyes brightened. "Excellent," he stated. "Actually, I can give you passage for free."

Jiraiya frowned. "Why?"

The first mate sighed again. "It's the slavers. We need protection."

"Slavers?" Jiraiya asked. "There hasn't been a slave trade in this part of the world for almost a century!"

The first mate shrugged. "Tell them that. They started up about five or six years ago, but the past year they've been getting more active. Even most of the pirate clans have either joined them or been wiped out."

Jiraiya frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. Where would they sell the slaves?"

"Well, this is what I've heard," the first mate said after a moment, smiling the smile of a man who loved to gossip. "You know that new Hokage down south?"

Jiraiya blinked. "Tsunade of the legendary Sannin?" he asked. "I've heard of her." Naruto had to resist the urge to snort.

"The way I hear it," the first mate continued, "the Leaf have been buying 'captured criminals' with no questions asked for her medical experiments." He shuddered theatrically.

"What?" Naruto snarled. "Why -"

"Easy, girl," Jiraiya said, laying a warning hand on Naruto's shoulder. "There're no Leaf ninja here, so there's no point in getting angry."

It took Naruto a moment to realize what Jiraiya was really saying and calm down. "Sorry," he said.

"Bunzo!" a loud voice roared from on board the ship. "Stop drawing out negotiations so you won't have to do any real work! Either let them on board or let them go!"

"Damn," the first mate muttered. "I've been found out." He looked up at the man who had yelled. "Sorry, Captain!" he shouted before turning back to Jiraiya. "So, do we have a deal?" he asked. "I'll be honest with you, if you shopped around you could probably get paid for being guards. However, there's a lot less chance of you having to do any fighting if you sign on with us. There's not a ship on the Gulf of Storms that can outsail us."

Jiraiya nodded seriously. "Thank you, Bunzo-san. I believe we have a deal."

He smiled. "Excellent. The captain will want to have a look at you, but there won't be any problems."

"Excuse me," a new voice said, barely audible over the sound of the crowds, "but I could not help but overhear. We are ninja as well, and would also be willing to hire on as guards for free passage to Lightning Country."

Jiraiya and Naruto turned around to see a pair of ninja wearing white kimonos - a man about Jiraiya's apparent age and a girl who seemed at most a couple years older than Naruto. The hilt of a sword could be seen over the man's shoulder, but the girl carried no visible weapons. Neither wore forehead protectors.

"The more the better," Bunzo said. "I'll need names from all four of you. Paperwork, you understand."

The man smiled. "I am Kitakami Ichizo, and this is my sister Rui." The girl nodded slightly

"Kitakami?" Jiraiya asked. "From the Hidden Snow?"

Both of the white-clad ninja stiffened. "There hasn't been a Hidden Village of Snow since before any of us were born," Rui stated harshly.

"Eh?" Naruto asked, glancing between the strangers and Jiraiya. "Hidden Snow?"

"I'll give you a history lesson later," Jiraiya said. Naruto groaned at this, but Jiraiya ignored him. "I see I remembered that clan name correctly."

Ichizo nodded after a moment. "You must be fond of history."

"I enjoy it," Jiraiya responded. He turned back to Bunzo, who had been watching the exchange nervously. "My name is Jiro; my niece is Naru."

"No clan?" Rui asked. She gave Jiraiya and Naruto a measuring glance, her eyes pausing on the disguised boy.

"None we care to claim," Jiraiya said smoothly.

Bunzo nodded. "Ichizo and Rui of the Kitakami, and Jiro and Naru of no clan. You understand that we will have to take a look at your papers and give your names and descriptions to the Hidden Rock before we sail and the Hidden Cloud once we arrive in Lightning Country. Just to make sure that we aren't carrying wanted criminals or the like."

"Of course," Jiraiya said. "Can we go on board?"

"You might want to wait until we're finished loading," Bunzo said. "You four just stay out of the way until then, and I'll bring the captain over to seal the deal."

* * *

**Day Forty-five**

Tsunade sighed as she looked at the actually relatively small collection of paperwork on her desk this morning. It wasn't the amount for once that made her want to just go out and get drunk, it was simply how troublesome the matters in question were likely to be that accomplished that task. She'd done what she could to avoid the possibility, but she somehow suspected that she'd have to deal with at least one angry genin this morning.

Traditionally, genin who were to participate in the third part of the Chuunin Exam, along with their teams, were suspended from missions for the thirty days downtime between the second exam and the finals. This was intended to facilitate the intensive training the fighters were expected to undergo to maximize their performance in the final exam. Unfortunately, the Hidden Leaf's current state did not allow the luxury of letting some of its best genin off of missions for a month. There were simply too many missions, and not enough ninja.

Tsunade had sent out messages to that effect shortly after the second exam had finished. Almost instantly, she'd had three upset jounin in her office to complain. She'd managed to calm them down by explaining that she would, if at all possible, assign them to the same missions as their students and that that the examination board would be asked to take the unusual situation into account when evaluating the Leaf genin's performance. She could only hope that they had already explained this to their students.

The door to her office cracked open. "Hokage-sama?" one of her chuunin guards asked as he poked his head inside. "Your first appointment is here."

Tsunade nodded. "Send them right in," she stated, and a moment later Maito Gai and his genin team stood in front of her. Tsunade glanced down at the scrolls on her desk and pulled out the appropriate one. "I'll say right off that this mission is highly unusual," she stated. "Were you ever given a ghost-hunting D-rank mission as fresh genin?"

Neji frowned. "No," he said. "Ghost-hunting?"

"You were lucky," Tsunade said. "Occasionally a superstitious peasant will hire us to get rid of a ghost he thinks is haunting him. Ordinarily, we give that kind of mission as a genin team's first mission without jounin supervision. We instruct them just to make a lot of noise and use a flashy technique or two, then tell the client that the ghost is gone. That usually works."

"That seems a little dishonest," Lee said disapprovingly.

Tsunade shrugged. "The clients pay a little money and in return get peace of mind. It's a fair trade, even if they don't realize how it works."

"What if it doesn't work, Hokage-sama?" Tenten asked curiously.

"That hardly ever happens," Tsunade replied dryly. "The policy is to then refund the money and advise the client to seek the services of a priest."

"So why are my students being given such a mission?" Gai asked, sounding slightly offended. "They're hardly fresh from the academy."

"In this case," Tsunade said, "the ghost we are being hired to eliminate is the last daimyo of the Bird Country, and the client is the current daimyo's chief adviser."

"Bird Country?" Tenten asked.

Neji closed his eyes briefly. "It lies between the Earth and Wind Countries, bordering the Rain," he said. "Traditionally, it is considered to be in the Hidden Rock's sphere of influence."

"Precisely," Tsunade said, "the reason why I'm not sending a fresh team."

"So we're being hired by some faction in Bird Country opposed to the Rock?" Tenten frowned. "No, in that case it would make more sense for them to go to the Sand or the Rain."

"Yes," Tsunade agreed. "For some reason, the client wants a team of fresh genin, completely unfamiliar with the area and not attached to any factions, to come to his country. Your mission is to pretend to be that team, figure out the motivations behind his actions, and resolve the situation in the best interests of the Fire Country and the Hidden Leaf." She held out the scroll, which Neji took. "The details are in there. I'm provisionally marking this as a C-rank mission, with the option to upgrade it to B-rank upon completion if events warrant. Understood?"

All three genin stiffened. "Yes, Hokage-sama," they said in unison.

"And what is my mission?" Gai asked.

"You are to follow your team covertly, conduct your own investigation, and provide support to your team if necessary," Tsunade said. Gai nodded. "All right then," Tsunade continued. "Dismissed."

Tsunade's next meeting was far shorter. It took only a few moments to assign Suzume Namida's genin team their mission to help escort Mitarashi Kimi's team to their assigned training ground and guard it. Unlike the other teams, the rookies didn't have anything close to the sort of record it took to convince Tsunade to assign them to a mission outside the D-ranks and low-risk C-ranks genin were usually given.

The meeting after that, however, was more complicated. Tsunade folded her hands before her face as she observed Sarutobi Asuma's Team Ten, including the rookie chuunin Nara Shikamaru. "I am going to assign you to an A-rank mission," Tsunade stated without preamble.

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "A-rank?" he asked. "Those are for jounin only!"

"Under ordinary circumstances," Tsunade stated. "You should know that, Nara-kun. After all, you have two A-rank missions under your belt already."

"What sort of mission is this?" Asuma asked.

"One that I believe lends itself to your team's strengths. I'm told you have the best espionage team that isn't already on a mission." Tsunade sighed. "Last week, we received a report from Daimyo Chichiatsu of the Swamp Country that Hatake Kakashi had been killed defending him from assassins sent by the Hidden Cloud."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Chouji asked, shocked.

Ino's eyes watered. "Sakura," she breathed quietly. "Does she know?"

Tsunade nodded. "The daimyo reported that the body his men recovered was unidentifiable, and per usual practice we've sent word that we will be sending a team to identify the corpse and dispose of it properly."

"Isn't that a mission for medical ninja?" Shikamaru asked.

Tsunade waved a hand. "It certainly isn't Kakashi's body."

"Why?" Chouji asked.

"The Hidden Cloud wouldn't leave the famous copy ninja Sharingan Kakashi's body behind," Tsunade stated. "It holds too many secrets."

"So what's our mission, then?" Shikamaru asked.

"I haven't told Haruno-kun this because I don't want to raise her hopes unnecessarily," Tsunade said, "but the daimyo's story doesn't add up."

Shikamaru nodded. "He's still alive, for one."

"Yes," Tsunade stated. "Among other details. Your mission is to determine precisely what happened and the current status of Hatake Kakashi." Her eyes hardened. "If it turns out that he was betrayed by Daimyo Chichiatsu… remove the daimyo if possible." All the young ninja froze, as though they were unable to believe what they had just heard.

"Wait just a moment!" Asuma shouted. "Assassination missions like that are ANBU's job!"

"If you judge it can't be done safely," Tsunade said, "then by all means return and I'll send ANBU. But if you can do it, I can't afford to waste unnecessary time and ninja. The situation the Hidden Leaf is in does not allow it. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Asuma said. "But I will file a protest."

"That is your right," Tsunade said, handing him the mission scroll. "Dismissed." Tsunade sighed as Asuma and his team left. Hopefully, that would be the most difficult of the morning's mission assignments. Asuma would probably calm down once he'd thought his way through the situation and realized that she'd left the decision on whether to go forward with the assassination entirely to his discretion. It was possible it wouldn't be necessary at all, for that matter.

Tsunade looked up as Yuuhi Kurenai and her team filed into her office. She really didn't know any of the members of this team very well, even the jounin. "We'll have to wait for just a moment," the Hokage said. "We're still waiting on one person, and I don't want to have to say everything twice." Kurenai nodded and Inuzuka Kiba sighed, while the other two members of the team remained impassive.

About a minute later, the door to the Hokage's office opened again. "I'm sorry I'm late, Hokage-sama," Haruno Sakura said as she slipped into the room. "I ran into Gai-sensei and he needed to tell me that -" The pink-haired kunoichi cut off, freezing as she noticed who else was in the room.

"You," Kiba growled, and Akamaru, resting by his feet stirred, letting out a sharp bark. Hyuuga Hinata stiffened, and Kurenai sighed, raising a hand to her forehead. Only Aburame Shino showed no visible reaction.

Tsunade's eyes flicked between her prospective apprentice and Kurenai's team. Something was very clearly wrong here. The Hokage carefully folded her hands in front of her face. "Is there some difficulty, Inuzuka-kun?" she asked, singling out the boy who had spoken. She was going to get to the bottom of this, and quickly, before it could fester.

"You can't seriously expect us to go on a mission with a traitor like her!" Kiba exclaimed.

Tsunade blinked. "Traitor?" she asked, her confusion showing in her voice. Had word of Sakura's apparent familial ties to the Mist spread somehow and been twisted in the telling? Tsunade noted without surprise that Sakura's fists were clenched. "That's a very serious accusation, Inuzuka-kun."

"I am not a," Sakura began angrily, only to cut off as Kiba spoke over her objection.

"What the hell else do you call what you three pulled?" he demanded. "You took advantage of the fact that we were comrades!" Sakura looked away, unable to meet Kiba's accusing glare.

"Would someone please explain?" Tsunade asked irritably.

Aburame Shino reached up to adjust his dark glasses before speaking. "Our teams encountered each other late in the second exam. We agreed to cooperate in mutually beneficial fashion, but Haruno-san's took advantage of our lowered guard and gained possession of our Earth Scroll."

Kiba snorted. "If you hadn't gone ahead and surrendered, we'd never have lost it."

Shino glanced at his teammate. "I told you then that it would be easier to procure another Earth Scroll than to fight Haruno-san's team, and I was correct. If you had not turned it over in the outer courtyard without waiting for my word, we would have passed regardless of Haruno-san's actions."

"That doesn't make any difference," Kiba said, grimacing.

"In any case, Hokage-sama," Shino continued, "I do not recommend that we be assigned to a mission with Haruno-san or her teammates. It would lead to unnecessary conflict that could harm the mission."

Tsunade's eyes were hard. "All of you will be going on this mission. Your team's abilities make you the best team available for this mission and Haruno-kun has relevant personal experience. Any other team I could form right now would be sub-optimal. You are all ninja of the Hidden Leaf. You will have to work together, now and in the future. A petty feud like this could mean your deaths, so you'd best forget about it now. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," all four genin responded.

"Good," Tsunade stated. "I am assigning you to a B-rank diplomatic mission." Her eyes swept the ninja before her. "Due to the high risk assigned to this mission, it will pay as a combat mission."

"High risk?" Kurenai asked.

"You will be traveling to Rice Field Country," Tsunade replied. Sakura nodded, as though she'd figured out the answer to a question.

"R-rice Field?" Hinata asked, her silver eyes widening. "That's where -"

"Yes," Tsunade stated. "It is home to the Hidden Sound."

"Has Hyuuga Hiashi-sama approved this mission?" Kurenai asked softly. One of of the many rights the Hyuuga claimed was that of veto over foreign missions assigned to head family members. Given the risks of the Byakugan falling into enemy hands, it was reasonable enough that no Hokage had ever challenged it.

"Yes," Tsunade said, "though he asked me to remind you of your responsibilities as jounin leader." Specifically, that of ensuring that no enemy took Hinata alive or gained possession of her intact corpse. Tsunade was damned, though, if she'd repeat Hiashi's exact words. Hinata didn't deserve to hear how little her father cared if she lived or died.

"Understood," Kurenai said darkly, and Tsunade knew that she had guessed what Tsunade hadn't stated out loud.

"The Hidden Leaf have been approached by a coalition of independent ninja clans from Rice Field opposed to Orochimaru and the Hidden Sound," Tsunade said after a moment. "While they are not in a position to directly fight the Sound, they have offered to provide us with intelligence. A meeting has been arranged with a representative of the lead clan of the coalition, the Fuuma, to seal the deal and set up communication channels. The details are in the mission scroll."

Kurenai accepted the scroll from Tsunade with a nod. "Understood," she repeated.

Tsunade nodded. "Yuuhi-san, stay a moment," she said. "The rest of you are dismissed." Once the genin were gone, Tsunade spoke again. "Are you aware of Hatake Kakashi's status, Yuuhi-san?" she asked.

Kurenai nodded. "Yes," she stated.

"I've been assigning everyone else in the finals to missions with their teachers so that their training will be minimally impacted, but that's not an option for Haruno-kun." Tsunade sighed.

Kurenai frowned. "You wish me to provide training for Haruno during the mission?"

Tsunade nodded. "If there's time," she said. The Hokage smiled slightly. "I'm told she has some talent for genjutsu, but little training in that field. A small bit of guidance from another genjutsu user could go a long way."

Kurenai was silent for a long moment. "The situation between Haruno and my team will make things difficult," she said finally, "but I'll do what I can."

* * *

Naruto shivered from the bitter wind, even though he was wearing and had zipped up the jacket of Mako's Jiraiya had given him as part of his disguise. Winter was coming, and he was much farther north than he was used to. It didn't help that there wasn't much to get in the way of the wind on a small ship sailing across the Gulf of Storms. "How can you stand the cold in that?" he asked.

The target of his question was Kitakami Rui, who sat on a convenient barrel, idly sharpening a dagger. She wore a short white kimono in the same style she'd worn yesterday, one that left most of her arms and legs bare. She looked up at Naruto, amusement in her violet eyes. "In the Snow Country," she said, "we would call this a warm summer day. It's not cold."

Jiraiya, standing nearby, laughed. "Don't scare the girl, Kitakami-san. More like a slightly chilly autumn day."

Rui blinked. "You've been in the Snow Country, Jiro-san?" she asked.

"When I was young, before Naru started traveling with me." Jiraiya answered. "I was hired to escort some people there from the Fire Country."

"Ah," Rui said. "Did you meet any of our clan then?"

"No," Jiraiya said after a moment, "I don't think so."

"Ah," Rui repeated, and her attention returned to her dagger.

Naruto shifted from foot to foot. "You said you were going to teach me something today, Uncle," he reminded Jiraiya eagerly. What sort of technique was he going to learn?

"I did, didn't I?" Jiraiya said, squatting down beside his student. "Let's see. I promised you a history lesson yesterday, I believe."

Naruto's face fell. "I want to learn a new technique!" he protested.

Jiraiya grinned. "Maybe if you pay attention," he said. He glanced up at Rui briefly. "Do correct me if I make any errors, Kitakami-san." The kunoichi only grunted. "All right, girl," Jiraiya said as his attention returned to Naruto, "the Snow Country lies to the north of Earth Country. Decades ago, it was home to the Hidden Village of Snow, which was one of the most powerful of the lesser hidden villages, almost as strong as one of the five major powers."

Rui glanced up. "It was a major power," she corrected.

Jiraiya smiled at her, shrugging. "I won't argue the point," he said. "It was close enough to make no difference, really. The Hidden Snow's mastery of ice element techniques gave them strength beyond their numbers."

"Ice element?" Naruto asked. "I thought there were only five elements."

"Five major schools of elemental techniques, yes," Jiraiya said. "Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and Lightning. However, there are dozens of less common schools in existence. Except for a few bizarre examples, most of them are combinations of or specialized variants on one of the major schools. Ice element techniques, of course, are derived from water element techniques. They can be very powerful, but are extremely difficult to use in warm weather and often vulnerable to fire element techniques."

"You're very knowledgeable," Rui stated, her eyes narrowing.

"I've studied a lot," Jiraiya said, rubbing at his fake scar. "It's helped me more than a few times."

"So what happened to the Hidden Snow?" Naruto asked. The sooner Jiraiya got done with the story, the sooner he could learn a new technique.

"We were betrayed," Rui said harshly.

"The Snow used to control the balance of power between the Cloud and the Rock," Jiraiya explained, "but eventually the Cloud and Rock set aside their differences and crushed them with the help of some missing ninja from the Snow. That was… oh, about forty years ago. Every so often, a militaristic daimyo in Snow Country will try to reform the village, but none of that has ever amounted to anything more than a collection of mercenaries wearing forehead protectors."

"The Hidden Snow cannot be refounded," Rui said softly. "Not yet." Jiraiya looked up at her curiously, but she only shook her head.

"All right then," Naruto said. "What about that technique?"

Jiraiya sighed. "Fine," he said as he stood. "If only so I won't have to listen to you whine all day." Rui chuckled at that. "A lot of the techniques you can use, Naru, are earth element techniques. As you may have noticed, those won't be terribly useful if we're attacked now."

Naruto nodded. "Right," he said.

"On the other hand, there's plenty of water around." Jiraiya walked over to the side of the ship, his hands flicking through a quick sequence of seals. Then he stretched out one hand, and a ball of water formed quickly in his open palm. "Suiton: Pressure Bullet," he stated, and the globe flew from his hand. Naruto's eyes followed it eagerly until it fell into the ocean. Jiraiya turned back to his student. "Don't try this technique when there's no water around," he warned. "You haven't got the chakra to be trying to create matter out of thin air or the control to take it from your body."

"Right," Naruto stated. "What were the seals?"

Jiraiya glanced at Rui. "As pleasant as your company is," he began.

The kunoichi laughed. "Understood," she stated, putting up her dagger and leaping off of the barrel she was sitting on. "I'll be going." She glanced at Naru. "Perhaps sometime later we could spar, Naru-san," she suggested.

Naruto glanced at Jiraiya, who nodded. "I don't see why not," the older ninja said. "So long as it's just a spar."

"Good," Rui stated. "Having been trained by someone as knowledgeable as you, Jiro-san, it will be interesting to see what strength she hides." She nodded once more, then walked away.

* * *

**Day Forty-six**

The Hokage's pronouncement that the "petty feud" resulting from the events of the second exam should be set aside had, predictably, had very little effect. Kiba was clearly doing the best he could to ignore Sakura's presence, but the pink-haired kunoichi could not avoid noticing the series of snarls and glares he sent her way. It was easy to tell that he would like little more than crushing her in a painful way during a rematch, and in other circumstances Sakura thought that he might have started such a battle already. That thought was more than a little discomforting, considering that in theory at least they were supposed to be teammates right now.

Still, Sakura preferred his barely restrained aggression to Hinata's quiet stare. Sakura had never quite felt comfortable around the Hyuuga heir. She was always looking at Naruto in a weird way with those eyes of hers, and while Hinata was never anything but polite to Sakura, the pink-haired kunoichi had always somehow gotten the impression that Hinata didn't like her very much for some reason. If that hadn't been the case before, it certainly was now. Calling the few brief words the two kunoichi had exchanged this morning frosty was making them sound far friendlier than they were.

Strangely enough, Shino, the only member of the team Sakura had actually wounded herself, seemed the least unfriendly. Then again, reading Shino was hard in the best of times. For all Sakura knew, he could be boiling over with rage inside. At least, unlike his teammates, he wasn't making an effort to stay as far away from Sakura as possible while remaining in formation. Still, Sakura made a mental note to keep a very careful eye out for any suspicious bugs.

That, Sakura knew, was a serious problem. They were headed for the Rice Field Country, domain of the Leaf Village's most dangerous enemy. There was entirely too much possibility that they would have to fight ninja from the Hidden Sound. Spending any time at all worrying about attack from her teammates was spending far too much time. Tsunade had been very right when she had said that sort of thing could mean their deaths. Her very presence was a burden, endangering the mission.

The worst part was that Sakura knew that this was her fault. She had been the one to propose that her team take Team Eight's Earth Scroll. It had seemed so clearcut then, during the exam. The rules of the exam were the rules - every team for itself. They had needed the scroll, and the other members of the so-called "Rookie Nine" had possessed one. Time had been running out, and the proper course of action had seemed obvious. Take what they needed. Use deceit and surprise to nullify the advantages of a stronger foe, just like they were taught in the academy.

Sakura had never imagined that she would be going on a mission with the victims of her plan so soon afterward. She had never thought that she would feel this guilty. She tried to console herself by remembering what Shino had said the day before. Team Eight had gotten another Earth Scroll and failed because they had not made it past Ibiki's final test in the outer courtyard. She had to agree with Kiba, though. That didn't change anything. It wasn't like she had known that would happen when she had made her decision.

Yuuhi Kurenai sighed suddenly, attracting the attention of all four genin under her command. "Let's stop for today," the jounin said, glancing at the sun, which had just begun to set. "If we go much farther, we'll get close enough to the border that we might run into Sound." She glanced at the four genin. "Right now, I don't think that would be a good idea."

All four of them clearly understood what she referred to. Or at least, that was what Sakura guessed, given the three stares she was suddenly on the receiving end of. Her shoulders slumped. She just couldn't take much more of this, not with everything else that was going on. That was the only good thing about this mess, that it was distracting her from worrying about Kakashi's fate, the fact that she still hadn't talked to her mother about Midori, or the upcoming third exam.

"Look," Sakura said as she set down her pack. "I'm not going to say that you three shouldn't be angry at me. I would be in your position, but Hokage-sama was right. This could get us killed." Kurenai nodded slightly at that. "For what it's worth, I'm not terribly happy about what I did, but I didn't see any other way at the time. If you want to hate me, that's fine, so long as we work as a team for this mission."

Shino silently turned away from her, setting down his own pack and beginning to set up the tent he and Kiba would share for the night. The other male ninja and Hinata didn't follow suit, still staring at Sakura. "You call that an apology?" Kiba growled after a moment. Akamaru barked as though to punctuate his master's question.

"No," Sakura stated. "I call it the truth."

Kiba stalked up to her, forming a fist and aiming it at her face. "Kiba!" Kurenai snapped. Sakura just closed her eyes, tensing as she anticipated the blow.

It didn't come. "Damn it," Kiba snarled. "If you weren't a girl, I'd hit you, but it's not right for a boy to act like that." Sakura began to relax as she heard him turn and walk away.

Then someone slapped her. Sakura opened her eyes, staring at Hinata in disbelief. "I'm not a boy," the Hyuuga heir stated calmly, then she too walked away and began to set up the tent the kunoichi would be sleeping in. Sakura rubbed at her cheek, then followed. The two of them worked in silence, for which Sakura was grateful. Kurenai sighed as she watched them, but she didn't say anything either.

A few hours later, the campsite was completely set up and the five ninja had eaten an uncomfortable, mostly silent dinner. Afterwards, Sakura walked over to her pack and pulled out a pair of gloves and a set of metal arm weights Gai had given her. She couldn't afford to waste any time, not if she hoped to make any real progress in her taijutsu in less than thirty days. Sasuke had done it, but he was Sasuke. She wasn't.

"Training for the third exam?" Kiba asked, more than a hint of bitterness in his voice. Sakura only nodded as she slipped on her gloves.

"Training with a partner," Shino commented suddenly, "can be much more effective than training alone." He paused. "It would also allow us to become more familiar with your fighting style. That is part of teamwork." Sakura glanced at him. Was this the bug user's way of saying he wanted a rematch?

Kiba grinned maliciously, cracking his knuckles. "I'd be happy to be her partner," he said slowly.

"No," Kurenai said dryly. "I want her to be able to fight in the morning." Kiba sighed, then his teacher continued. "Still, Sakura, Shino has a point. I would like to see you in action before I have to command you in a life-or-death situation."

Sakura nodded. "Yes, Kurenai-sensei."

Shino stirred, but it was Hinata who stood first. "I'll spar with her," she stated. Sakura nodded again, and a moment later the pair of kunoichi were standing ten paces apart just outside the campsite.

Sakura quickly ran through her options. She knew Hinata was a bad match for her, just as she had been in the exam. Genjutsu would be useless and taijutsu would be extremely dangerous against the Gentle Fist. She would have to keep her distance and hope Hinata hadn't mastered the Heavenly Spin. For an instant, Sakura considered taking off her weights, but this was training, not real combat.

"Begin," Kurenai stated, and Sakura's released the shuriken she had been readying all the while. In an instant, a kunai appeared in Hinata's hands, and the Hyuuga expertly parried the projectiles, then threw her own weapon. Even with the weights slowing her down, Sakura was able to dodge, but by then Hinata had begun to charge, her Byakugan activated.

Sakura formed a seal with one hand. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" She didn't aim to hit her opponent, instead simply forming a barrier with the fiery talons to keep her at bay. As Hinata jumped away from the fire, Sakura released the technique, hurling more shuriken at the Hyuuga.

As Hinata landed, her eyes narrowed. "Heavenly Spin!" she shouted, and the oncoming missiles were harmlessly deflected by a twisting wall of chakra.

Sakura's heart fell. What was she supposed to do, then? There was no way she could penetrate Hinata's absolute defense. All she could do was drag this out as long as possible. As Hinata charged again, Sakura leapt away, drawing and throwing a kunai in one smooth motion. Hinata leaned aside, letting the blade pass harmlessly by. Sakura's hand rested on the hilt of another kunai as she waited for her foe's next move.

Sakura's eyes widened as Hinata began to form a very familiar set of seals. Since when had she had the chakra to use that technique? "Shadow Replication Technique," Hinata stated, forming a shadow clone on either side of her. As one, the three Hyuuga charged.

In an instant, Sakura had re-activated the Claw of the Fire Dragon, swiping at one Hinata with the flames. There was a puff of smoke as the clone vanished, but now one Hinata had gotten behind Sakura. Before Sakura could react, both of her opponents dropped to all fours. Her eyes widened again as faintly visible chakra began to pour from every part of Hinata's two bodies.

"Dual Piercing Heavenly Spin!" the two shouted in unison. Sakura futilely threw up her arms as the two whirling blurs of motion sped toward her. She felt one hand strike her, knocking her into the air. The next blow never came. One Hinata went flying into a tree, vanishing in a puff of smoke. The other Hinata stood still, restrained by one of Kurenai's arms. Sakura landed heavily on her side.

"That's enough," Kurenai stated. "This was a spar. There was no reason to use a soldier pill."

Hinata nodded curtly. "Yes, Kurenai-sensei."

Sakura half-rose, clutching at her side where the one blow had struck. "That was," she began.

Kiba grinned. "An imitation of the Inuzuka Clan's Beast Mimicry Style taijutsu, using the Hyuuga's Heavenly Spin," he stated proudly.

"Sakura," Kurenai stated as she released Hinata. "Are you all right?"

Sakura forced herself to nod and rise. "I'm fine," she said.

"Good," Kurenai responded. "That's enough for tonight."

As the other four ninja began to walk back into the campsite, Sakura stayed behind, clenching her fists. Damn it. She had come so far since six months ago, but it still hadn't made any difference. Hinata had come so much farther. If that had been her first match in the third exam, it would all be over. So much for her promise to herself to never be left behind again.

"Damn it," she said out loud, her fists tightening. She could feel her eyes watering, but she forced herself to hold in the pointless tears. She wasn't going to cry. Instead she walked over to where she had left her arm weights and slipped them on. Without saying anything to her companions she approached a convenient tree, then slammed her fist into the trunk. Her other arm followed suit a moment later.

"One," she counted to herself as she brought her first arm back for another punch.

* * *

Naruto cursed as the ball of water he could almost feel about to form in his palm failed to actually appear. A few days ago, he had finally thought that he was getting the hang of performing those earth element techniques the way Jiraiya had wanted him to. He had felt the few dregs of chakra he had left to himself permeating the earth under his fingertips, making it move almost like a part of his body. It had been an entirely different feeling than how he had normally felt using those techniques.

That sudden breakthrough wasn't helping him very much now, though. He thought that he could feel the water vapor in the air before his hand, but there wasn't anywhere near enough of it to form a ball on its own. When he tried to spread his chakra out further to gather in more water, it dissipated like always. If only there was some way to bring the water to him instead.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as an idea occurred to him. After a few minutes of pleading with the nearest sailor - highly embarrassing, but Naruto tried to think of it as simply a variation on his Sexy Technique - Naruto was squatted over a bucket of seawater. Nodding to himself, he rapidly worked his way through the sequence of seals Jiraiya had taught him before. As soon as he'd formed the last seal, he laid one hand flat on the water's surface.

Concentrating furiously to call on every bit of stamina that remained to him, Naruto channeled chakra into the water. As he raised his hand, most of the bucket's contents rose with it. Naruto stood, staring happily at the globe of water hanging from his palm. Then his eyes widened as it began to distort, seeking to escape the bonds his chakra had forced it into. He raced over to the side of the ship, thrusting out his arm. "Suiton: Pressure Bullet!" The pulsating sphere of water flew away from his hand. Unlike Jiraiya's, it only made it a few yards before losing its coherence. Naruto didn't despair as the now-ordinary water rained down onto a patch of ocean, though. He was finally making some sort of progress.

"Not bad," Jiraiya said from where he had been watching his student with one eye as he flipped through the perverted novel he had bought earlier in the week. "I was wondering how long it would take you to think of that."

Naruto glared at his teacher. "Maybe if you actually tried to teach me something instead of making me figure everything out myself, I'd have already mastered this technique."

Jiraiya sighed. "Didn't we have this discussion once already, girl?"

Naruto sighed as he remembered that conversation. "Can't you at least give me a hint?"

Jiraiya put up his novel with another sigh. "Watch me closely," he said. "I'll go through this slowly." He formed the seals carefully, then held out a hand. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then Naruto began to see tiny droplets of water hanging in midair before Jiraiya's palm. They began to flow together into a tiny sphere, which grew rapidly as more and more droplets appeared and merged with it. Jiraiya again strode over to the side of the ship, releasing the ball wordlessly. "There's your hint," he said as he pulled out his book again.

Naruto frowned. All the droplets he'd seen had been forming near Jiraiya's hand, but there was no way there was that much water in that small a space. His own efforts had shown that. Naruto shivered from a sudden gust of wind. His eyes widened. That was it! Quickly, before the insight left him, he raced through the seals for the technique once more.

This time, he channeled his chakra into the air before his hand like he had into the bucket of water, rather than trying to seek out individual water particles. Controlled by his chakra, those particles moved anyway, forming into tiny droplets. Instead of casting his chakra out wider in search of more water, Naruto began to move his hand. More and more droplets appeared as he caught more water vapor in his ball of chakra. Slowly, a smaller globe of water formed in the center of the field of chakra. With a happy yell, Naruto released the projectile. Again, it dissolved into a harmless spray of water after a few feet, but Naruto didn't let himself get discouraged.

"You certainly are good at coming up with backwards ways to perform techniques," Jiraiya commented with a shake of his head. "You're supposed to mold your chakra so that it attracts water vapor, not bring your chakra to the water."

Naruto glanced at his teacher. "How am I supposed to do that?" he asked. Jiraiya only sighed.

"Your training session not going well?" Kitakami Ichizo asked as he approached. His sister followed behind him. As always, the two were wearing white kimonos.

Jiraiya turned to Ichizo. "My niece can be a difficult student sometimes," he stated.

Rui smiled. "Perhaps you would like to take a break? I am still interested in a spar."

Jiraiya glanced at Naruto. "Naru-chan?" he asked.

Naruto took a deep breath. His unbelievably small-seeming chakra reserves were drained from the morning's practice session, but he thought he was up for a spar. "Any time," he said, grinning.

A few moments later, a space had been cleared on the deck for the match. A few off-duty sailors milled about curiously. "All right," Jiraiya said, "this is just a spar, you two. Don't do anything serious."

Rui glanced at him. "I'm not some hot-blooded brawler," she said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"That was more for Naru-chan," Jiraiya said dryly. Naruto shifted uncomfortably. It wasn't like he could pull out any serious techniques in this state, not without releasing the seal Jiraiya had warned him about. "All right, then," Jiraiya said. "Begin."

Before the sound of the word faded, three shuriken were in the air, flying toward Naruto. He tried to dodge, but too slowly, two shuriken striking him in the arm and chest. Rui didn't make any sign of surprise as a puff of smoke revealed the water barrel that had actually been hit. The real Naruto plunged a hand into the barrel and pulled out a small globe of water before charging.

Rui's eyes narrowed as she leaped backward, tossing more shuriken into the air. With a cry of "Suiton: Pressure Bullet," Naruto released his attack, then rolled aside, letting Rui's attack pass overhead.

Rui, meanwhile, raced through seals as Naruto's projectile neared her. "Hyouton: Crystal Ice Wall," she intoned. A mirror-like sheet of ice appeared out of thin air, Naruto's Pressure Bullet impacting it harmlessly.

Jiraiya's eyes widened slightly. "Impressive," he stated.

Ichizo grinned. "Rui's just getting started."

As though prompted by her brother's statement, the kunoichi formed another set of seals. "Hyouton: One Hundred Diamond Shards." The wall of ice shattered, but rather than collapsing the razor-sharp pieces hung in the air briefly, then began to fly toward Naruto.

Naruto formed a single seal as he breathed in deeply. "Whirlwind Shield!" he shouted. Though the blast of wind that resulted was not nearly as impressive as he was used to, it was enough to push most of the oncoming ice shards aside. A handful still made it through, scoring minor wounds his arms and legs.

Panting, Naruto studied his opponent. He couldn't believe that he was already reaching his limits. Ordinarily, he'd be barely getting started now. Jiraiya hadn't been kidding when he'd told Naruto that he wouldn't have as much chakra as he was used to. Taijutsu was his best bet, Naruto decided. He didn't have the chakra to waste on any more techniques. Without wasting time on further thought, he charged, tossing a handful of shuriken to keep Rui occupied.

A dagger appeared in Rui's hands as she parried the shuriken. Then Naruto was upon her, sweeping her legs out from under her with a sudden kick. Rui arrested her fall with one hand, bringing her own leg up for a fast strike at Naruto's face. The disguised boy danced back, giving Rui time to regain her feet.

"You're not bad," Rui admitted, relaxing slightly. "I'm glad."

Naruto backed away slightly. "Glad?" he asked.

"We might have to fight together," Rui said, "if pirates or those slavers attack. With all the sailors, there would be enough burdens around without having to take care of a kunoichi who can't handle herself in a fight. I'm glad that's not the case."

It took Naruto a moment to realize that the "kunoichi" Rui was speaking of was himself. Then he was momentarily annoyed that Rui had thought he would be a burden, but he pushed that aside. She's admitted she'd been wrong, after all. "Thank you," he said after a moment.

Still, Naruto had to wonder. Sure he hadn't been at full strength, even for his present situation, but he'd been pushed to his current limits by such a short match. What good was he going to be in a real fight?

* * *

**Day Forty-seven**

Yuuhi Kurenai was not the type to get angry. Otherwise she would never have been able to be friends with Mitarashi Anko. Anyone with a bad temper tended to not last long in close association with the woman known throughout the village as the Leaf's most psychotic kunoichi. The fact that Anko thought that title was a complement was enough to make most of the rest avoid her when at all possible. It took a rare equanimity to actually enjoy her company.

Had Kurenai not possessed that composure, though, she would have been more than a little upset at the Hokage. Having to take her genin team into Rice Field Country - the very domain of Orochimaru - was bad enough, even if with care it could probably be done safely. Having to do it with an addition that was disrupting the teamwork of the group terribly was even worse. Combine that with the unusual but understandable request from the Hokage that Sakura be given some training while traveling, and even Kurenai was feeling at least a little irritated.

At least the mess yesterday had cleared the air a little bit. Hinata's uncharacteristic aggression was a puzzle though. Kurenai had actually thought at first that the Hyuuga heir had offered to spar with Sakura precisely to prevent the practice devolving into something more dangerous. It was embarrassing, but Kurenai had been so shocked when Hinata had taken a soldier pill that she hadn't even thought to intervene until it was almost too late. She should have realized that Hinata was unusually angry as soon as she had slapped Sakura.

But why? It wasn't like her to bear a grudge, but Hinata had been the one who Sakura's team had initially ambushed and almost trivially knocked out of the fight. It seemed almost impossible, but had she developed enough pride that it needed to be avenged? The fact that Hinata had seemed much less hostile since the fight pointed in that direction, but it was so unlike her that Kurenai found it hard to believe. It seemed more likely that Hinata had realized that she had gone a bit too far. Had that technique landed fully, Sakura could have been seriously wounded, endangering the mission.

Kurenai gave Sakura, walking beside the impassive Shino, a measuring glance. The pink-haired kunoichi had obviously been handicapped by the weights she was wearing, but even accounting for that her performance had been disappointing. Hinata had dominated the pace of the fight from beginning to end, and Sakura had never really even attempted to take control of the match. "Haruno-kun," Kurenai stated softly.

Sakura glanced back at the jounin. "Yes, Kurenai-sensei?" she asked.

Kurenai gestured at her to come nearer. "I want to talk with you a moment." Sakura nodded and briefly slowed her pace, falling to back to walk beside Kurenai. The older woman's eyes turned to her team. "Kiba, we're getting close to the border. Take Akamaru and scout ahead. Hinata, Shino, keep an eye out for ambushers."

"Yes, Kurenai-sensei," her team said almost in unison, and a moment later Kiba had vanished into the forest surrounding the trail they were following.

"You wanted to speak with me?" Sakura prompted.

"Your fight with Hinata was a little disappointing," Kurenai responded. "You stayed almost purely on the defensive."

Sakura grimaced. "My taijutsu isn't good enough to go toe-to-toe with the Gentle Fist, and I don't have anything that can penetrate the Heavenly Spin. There wasn't anything I could do offensively."

Kurenai sighed. "You shouldn't ever go into a fight expecting to lose, Haruno-kun. That's the first step toward defeat." She paused. "No matter how strong a defense is, there's always a way to get past it."

"So what should I have done, then?" Sakura asked, a hint of irritation in her voice.

The jounin resisted the urge to smile. Being second-guessed about your decisions in a fight was never pleasant, was it? "I've heard that you're supposed to be a genjutsu-type," she stated after a moment. "You never even tried to use a genjutsu during the match."

Sakura blinked. "What good would it have done? She could have seen through any genjutsu with her Byakugan."

Kurenai sighed. The girl clearly hadn't had any real genjutsu training, just like the Hokage had said. "Not necessarily. The Byakugan just gives the Hyuuga extra senses. If you're good enough, they can be fooled like any other sense. The same goes for any doujutsu's 'eye of insight.'" A grimace passed on the jounin's face as she remembered her brief, humiliating encounter with Uchiha Itachi. "Of course, some doujutsu are more difficult to defeat than others," she admitted, "and at your level it would be very tough.

"Even a genjutsu that's seen through can have a tactical use, though," Kurenai continued. "Take the Hell-Viewing Technique. Only someone fresh out of the academy wouldn't realize it's a genjutsu, but seeing a terrible fear come to life can shake an opponent even so."

Sakura grimaced, as though Kurenai had brought up an unpleasant memory, but then she shook her head. "I don't have any genjutsu like that, though," she stated.

"Which genjutsu do you know?" Kurenai asked. The Hell-Viewing Technique was one of the simplest offensive genjutsu, and usually one of the first taught to a prospective genjutsu user.

"The Perfect Replication Technique and the Sly Mind-Affecting Technique," Sakura stated. "Maybe I could have done something with the Perfect Replication Technique, but I don't see how confusing Hinata-san's sense of direction would have helped me at all."

"Two chuunin-level genjutsu," Kurenai muttered to herself. The Sakura she had seen in the last Chuunin Exam had learned those techniques, without the benefit of substantial grounding in basic genjutsu?

"Is something wrong, Kurenai-sensei?" Sakura asked, sounding worried.

"Not with you," Kurenai answered. What had the Third Hokage been thinking when he had assigned the teams? He'd given her, widely considered among to Leaf to be the most talented genjutsu expert of her generation, a bug user and two taijutsu specialists who needed instruction in family styles that she couldn't even learn, much less teach. Meanwhile, a genjutsu-type like Sakura had been assigned to Hatake Kakashi, who's perception of genjutsu's use, in Kurenai's opinion, was completely distorted by that Sharingan of his. What possible logic had supported that decision?

Both kunoichi looked up as Kiba returned to the group. "No one's around," he said. "I even ran ahead to the river and didn't see anybody."

Kurenai nodded, looking around. "All right," she said. "We'll camp here and cross the river into Rice Field Country tomorrow."

"It's barely past noon," Shino stated blandly.

"We'll need the time," Kurenai responded. "I'm going to go over the mission details and the best practices for handling yourself in an enemy country, and then we're going to do some teamwork exercises." None of the genin looked terribly happy with that, but at least nobody complained either.

* * *

The day had dawned cold and overcast, and the weather had shown no signs of improvement as the hours had crawled on towards noon. For once, though, Naruto didn't have time to be complaining about the winter weather. He was kneeling over a bucket of seawater working on improving the length of time he could hold his new water element technique together. Unlike the training he was used to, he found himself having to take frequent breaks to rest and allow his chakra to recover, and this served only to annoy him further.

"You shouldn't get upset," Jiraiya said, leaning against the railing along the side of the ship. "The way you are now, you did as well as could be expected. I think she probably would have been a tough challenge even if you had better chakra reserves."

Naruto looked up. "Why?" he asked. Rui hadn't seemed all that strong.

Jiraiya sighed. "She wasn't just manipulating water vapor for her techniques," he said. "She formed that sheet of ice out of nothing. That takes a lot of skill and chakra."

Kitakami Ichizo, who was walking up to the pair, smiled. "You are observant, Jiro-san." He paused, and when he spoke again there was perhaps a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Rui-chan has the greatest talent for ice element techniques seen since the destruction of the Snow Village."

Jiraiya blinked slowly. "Is that so?" he asked.

Naruto had to resist the urge to stare up at his teacher. From the bland tone of Jiraiya's voice, he guessed that Jiraiya had realized something interesting, but didn't want Ichizo to realize it. The ninja from Snow Country, not as used to Jiraiya's tones of voice, only nodded. "Yes," Ichizo said. "She is the best hope for -" He cut off suddenly. "I shouldn't bother you with our problems," he stated, obviously forcing another smile to his face.

Whatever Jiraiya might have said in response was lost as the lookout perched high atop one of the masts suddenly began to shout. Answering, panicked cries responded from other sailors. "What's going on?" Naruto asked, standing.

Jiraiya had turned around, looking out to sea. "There," he said grimly as he pointed. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw three small ships, surprisingly close to their own vessel and drawing nearer with every second. He could make out armed men crowding the decks of the oncoming ships.

"Pirates," Ichizo growled, pulling his sword out of its sheath on his back. The over-sized, straight blade briefly reminded Naruto of Zabuza's weapon, but the disguised boy shook his head to clear it it of the sudden thought. There was no time for that. "How did they get so close?" Ichizo asked.

"Genjutsu," Jiraiya responded, fingering the hilt of his own large sword. "A strong one."

"What do we do?" Naruto asked.

"Can you two walk on water?" Ichizo asked. When the two disguised Leaf ninja nodded, he continued. "We intercept them."

Bunzo, the first mate of their ship, ran up to the three ninja. "The captain says you all get a bonus if you can stop them before they can board us," he said breathlessly.

"Rui!" Ichizo shouted. His sister appeared suddenly behind him. "Jiro-san," Ichizo continued, "Rui and I can use an ice element technique to stop those ships, but it'll take some time to prepare. We'll need to come at them from two sides and someone to defend us while we work on the technique."

"All right," Jiraiya responded. "Should I go with you or Rui-san?"

"With me," Ichizo responded. "Rui is the stronger of us, and unless I miss my guess you're stronger than your niece. The teams will be more balanced that way."

"Fine," Jiraiya said after a moment. "Be careful, Naru-chan."

"Right," Naruto responded nervously. Would he really be any use the way he was right now?

Rui laid a hand on his shoulder. "You'll be fine," she stated. "Follow me." She leapt off the boat, landing lightly on the ocean surface. A moment later Naruto stood beside her. "This way," Rui said as she began to race across the water.

Naruto followed, glancing to the side to see the two older ninja also making their way toward the oncoming ships. Jiraiya waved briefly at his student before he and Ichizo shifted direction so that they'd come at the pirates from the other side. "What do I need to do?" Naruto asked.

"Ichizo needs preparation time more than me," Rui said, "but I'll still be vulnerable for a little while before I unleash my technique. If there are any ninja with the pirates, they'll come after us. Keep anyone who does busy."

"Right," Naruto said.

As they neared the pirate vessels, a lone figure jumped down from closest. In a single smooth motion, he threw a half-dozen kunai at the oncoming defenders. Naruto leapt in front of Rui, forming a single seal. "Whirlwind Shield!" he shouted. Not quite as weak as the day before, the burst of wind stopped the missiles in their tracks. Naruto reached out, grabbing one by the hilt and throwing it back at the pirate. It hit him in the chest, but he dissolved into water. "Water Replication?" Naruto guessed.

"Just the replacement technique," Rui corrected. "He'll probably come up from beneath. Keep an eye out while I work." She stopped running, beginning to race through a long sequence of seals.

Naruto pulled out one of his own kunai as he carefully watched for the enemy ninja. Where was he hiding? Naruto jumped up, moments before a pair of hands would have grasped his ankles. Unthinkingly, he threw his kunai, but even as it left his hands he realized it couldn't hurt the submerged ninja. Naruto's hands flicked through seals. As he landed lightly, almost directly above the barely visible form of the enemy ninja, he laid one hand on the water. "Suiton: Pressure Bullet!" he shouted.

Rather than lifting the ball of water out of the ocean, Naruto released it as soon as it was formed. The attack hit his submerged foe full-strength, the surface rippling from the disturbance when the chakra-charged water exploded with sudden force. A moment later, the enemy ninja shot out of the water perhaps a dozen feet away from the pair of defenders. He stood unsteadily, almost losing his footing from a passing wave.

"It's over," Rui stated as she formed a final seal. "Hyouton: Field of Still Waves!" Instantly, hundreds of square yards of ocean before the kunoichi froze over. On the other side of the trio of pirate ships, the same thing occurred almost simultaneously. Together, Ichizo and Rui's techniques had completely surrounded the enemy. The three ships were halted instantly, unable to push through the ice, which looked to be at least ten feet thick.

Naruto glanced down at the slick surface beneath his feet. "Wow," he stated.

The enemy ninja seemed just as shocked. "That's," he began in surprise, but before he finished his sentence he tossed a smoke bomb at his feet. When the dark smoke had cleared, he was gone.

Rui smiled. "Now to finish this." Her hands formed another seal, then her eyes widened and her smile vanished.

Naruto followed her gaze. The three entrapped ships shimmered briefly, then turned into impossibly detailed still sculptures of ice, down to the men crowding their decks. "What in the world?" Naruto asked.

"Ice replications," Rui breathed. "So the rumors were correct."

Naruto's eyes widened. "The whole ships?" Was that sort of thing even possible?

"There's no time," Rui snarled. "We have to get back to the ship!" Without waiting for Naruto to comment, she whirled around.

Standing calmly atop the waves between them and their ship stood a young woman with long, silver hair wearing a fine white kimono decorated with a pale blue, flame-like pattern near the edges. Around her neck she wore a strange forehead protector that Naruto had never seen before, but he guessed it belonged to the Hidden Snow. Far away, on the other side of their ship, a massive, three-masted warship bearing black sails appeared out of thin air.

"You," Rui growled at the woman. "Stay back, Naru-san," she said quietly. "This is my fight." He hated to do it, but Naruto cautiously backed away.

The strange woman smiled. "You're a Kitakami," she said, sounding highly amused.

"My name," Rui snarled as her hands flickered through seals, "is Kitakami Rui, Grandmother. Hyouton: One Hundred Diamond Shards!" Razor-sharp blades of ice materialized out of thin air, hovering around the young kunoichi. She formed another seal, and the shards flew at the older woman.

The silver-haired woman waved a hand negligently, and the shards stopped in midair. "Interesting," she said mildly. "I wasn't aware there was anyone else left who could create ice so easily."

Rui's hands moved through more seals, and her attack began to slowly move again. "I was given this power," she grunted, "to kill you!"

The woman's eyes widened, but she glanced back at where her massive ship had closed with the smaller merchant vessel. She seemed shaken when she turned back to Rui. "I don't have time to play with you now, girl." Her hands began to move through seals of their own, and the ice summoned by Rui shuddered and reversed. Rui collapsed to her knees, but the woman wasn't finished. Her hands kept moving, and the massive field of ice and the ice ships behind the three ninja began to crumble. The countless shards rose into the air and surrounded Naruto and Rui.

Rui's eyes widened as she took in the maelstrom of ice that surrounded the pair. "Such power," she breathed.

The older woman smiled. "If you survive this, come visit me at Hakuhyou Island, Rui-chan," she said. Then her form shimmered, becoming a statue of ice which broke apart, the shards joining the whirling ice storm. "Hyouton: One Hundred Thousand Diamond Shards," a quiet, ethereal voice stated.

Naruto reacted without thinking, shielding Rui with his body. "Naru-san!" Rui shouted at him, but he ignored her. Concentrating, he instinctively released the seal that Jiraiya had warned him of. Warmth flooded him, and he could feel chakra escaping the tight spiral over his heart. He grit his teeth, ignoring the sudden pain from the other spiral that he could feel appearing over his stomach. With an effort of will, as soon as he had enough chakra, he forced the first seal to snap back into existence, again blocking off most of his chakra. This was still enough of a growth in power that Rui could feel it. "Naru-san?" she breathed.

Naruto's hands formed a single seal and he took in a deep breath. The storm of ice shards surrounding them had stopped circling, and as one they all flew straight at the pair. Naruto waited until almost the last second before he released his technique.

"Whirlwind Shield!"

* * *

"Ice replications!" Kitakami Ichizo snarled as he stared at what had until moments before appeared to be a trio of pirate ships. "It is her after all!"

"Her?" Jiraiya asked, though he was certain he knew the answer. He was already starting to run back toward their ship, easily seeing through the genjutsu that still cloaked the true pirate ship.

Ichizo, breathing heavily from the effort of using the powerful technique that had trapped the false ships, followed as quickly as he could. "There's no time. She could attack our ship at any moment."

Jiraiya resisted the urge to sigh. Even if he hadn't already known the truth, he would now know that something was up. "Hunting for a missing ninja?" he asked.

"How did you -" Ichizo began, only to cut off as a woman appeared before him. "Kitakami Yuki," he growled as he formed a seal around the hilt of his over-sized sword. "Suiton: Wave-Smashing Blow!" he shouted, striking the water with his weapon. The ocean parted slightly as he struck, and a wall of water rose, moving rapidly toward the woman.

She formed a handful of seals. "Hyouton: Crystal Ice Wall," she stated. The wall of ice that appeared in front of her easily deflected Ichizo's attack, then vanished. "Interesting," she stated. "You must be from Hidden Snow."

Jiraiya didn't wait for Ichizo to respond or the woman to counter-attack, unsheathing his own large, curved blade and charging. The woman sighed, waving an arm and calling her barrier back into existence. Jiraiya didn't slow, charging straight up the slick surface. As he reached the top, he saw the woman's eyes widen as he leapt down, beheading her with a single strike as he landed. The ice replication shattered, and with it the ice wall vanished once more.

"You're good, Jiro-san," Ichizo said.

Jiraiya resheathed his blade. "If that's really Kitakami Yuki, we don't have time to trade compliments," he said. "Let's move." She had looked a little different, but it had been a few decades since Jiraiya had last seen the Hidden Snow's most notorious missing ninja. She'd actually looked more like what he remembered than he'd expected.

"You know of her?" Ichizo asked as he began to move.

Jiraiya nodded. "I told you I've studied history," he said.

"Right," Ichizo answered, but Jiraiya could tell he didn't quite believe him. The Kitakami glanced about. "Damn it," he said. "I don't see Rui."

"They'll be heading back for the ship too," Jiraiya answered. "We'll meet up there." The two exchanged no more words until they had caught up with their ship, leaping from the surface of the ocean to the deck in a single leap.

The battle there was already over. Every sailor visible was encased in ice, and pirates were boarding freely from their larger vessel. Standing in the center of the deck was the same silver-haired woman the pair had fought before. "I was expecting you two," she said. She raised a hand, and the pirates that had already been approaching the pair of defending ninja had begun to back away.

"Circle around her," Ichizo whispered to Jiraiya. "We have to keep her busy until Rui-chan gets here. She's the only one who can defeat her."

Jiraiya gave his partner a glance. "If you say so."

Ichizo raised his sword. "Kitakami Yuki!" he bellowed. "You have committed crimes for which the only possible sentence is death! In the name of the Kitakami Clan and the Hidden Village of Snow, die!" He charged.

The woman laughed. "Such nostalgic words," she said. "You're making me feel young again." Her hands flicked through seals. "Hyouton: Ice Coffin Technique!" She spat out a tiny bullet of ice at the oncoming ninja, who deflected it with the flat of his blade.

"I won't be defeated so easily, traitor!" he shouted.

"Prove it," the woman said.

By now Jiraiya had circled around behind the woman, and his hands moved through seals of their own. He couldn't afford to hold back as much as he'd like to here, not against her. "Katon: Phoenix Flame Technique!" he shouted, a rapid torrent of small fireballs spewing out of his mouth.

Kitakami Yuki spun about, her hands already in the final seal for her next technique. "Hyouton: Snow Storm Swallows!" A flock of delicate-seeming, bird-like ice creatures sprung into being around her. Each flew directly at an oncoming fireball, colliding with and canceling out Jiraiya's technique.

As he came up behind her, Ichizo swung wildly at Yuki, a blow that would have cut her in two if it landed. Instead, she somehow caught the blade with one hand. She easily yanked the weapon from Ichizo's hands. "I'm not interested in you anymore," she said, half-turning and delivering a powerful kick that sent Ichizo flying back into a mast. In an instant, a half-dozen of the watching pirates had tackled the fallen ninja.

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed as he drew his weapon. "So you're interested in me?" he asked cautiously. This could get a little dangerous. The woman dropped her stolen weapon, and for a moment his eyes followed its fall.

Before it hit the ground, Kitakami Yuki stood beside him, one hand twirling her long, silver hair. "I've always been interested in you, Jiraiya-san," she whispered into his ear.

Jiraiya stiffened. "So you saw through my disguise," he said, just as softly.

Yuki smiled. "Of course," she said. "Your disguise isn't that much unlike how you looked back then." She reached out with one hand, prying the curved sword from Jiraiya's unresisting hands and tossing it aside.

"I didn't expect to run into an old friend like this." Jiraiya surreptitiously reached for a kunai. Where were Naruto and Rui? "I'd make a poor slave," he said casually. "Why don't you just let us all go? For old time's sake." He glanced about cautiously for any sign that his student and Rui were drawing near.

"Was the cross-dresser important to you?" Yuki asked. "He's probably dead, unless that Rui is stronger than I thought."

Jiraiya stiffened. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to fight you seriously now, Yuki-chan," he said, still in a whisper. "I haven't got time to play with you right now."

"You should make time," Yuki said. "I think if you showed your true strength here, things might get troublesome for you." She glanced up at the deck of her ship. Jiraiya followed her gaze, only to pale as he saw the figure that stood there, gazing in apparent boredom at the battle scene below him.

"You have dangerous allies," he said quietly.

Yuki laughed slightly. "You really should let me take you prisoner," she said. "If the other two live, they'll be heading for my fortress. I made sure of that." She smiled, breathing heavily in Jiraiya's ear. "Besides, I can make the wait fun."

It probably would have surprised many who knew him just how little this final argument made in Jiraiya's ultimate decision, but in the end it didn't seem like he had any other good choice. "All right," he said, raising his hands slightly. "You win for now, Yuki-chan."

* * *

Tsunade had no idea just how much more paperwork she would have to deal with if her assistant was not as competent and dedicated as she was. Whenever Shizune wasn't attending Tsunade, working in the hospital, or serving as a medical ninja in a patrol squad, she could be found in the administration building, working her way through piles of reports and forms. Anything that needed the Hokage's personal attention - as quite a bit did, to Tsunade's despair - Shizune set aside. The remainder she either dealt with herself or delegated to an appropriate person.

Shizune had just finished writing a sternly worded note to the jounin in charge of gate duty, reminding him that it was his job to arrange a schedule for the low-ranking chuunin in rotation for the job, when a ninja appeared in a puff of smoke in front of her desk. Shizune looked up. "Good morning, ANBU-san," she said politely. "Is there a problem?"

The masked ninja nodded slightly. "Hokage-sama asked us to inform you of any suspicious activity on the part of Haruno Amaya."

"Yes," Shizune confirmed. "What has she done?" For Sakura's sake, she hoped it wasn't anything serious.

"Yamanaka Inoichi informed her of the apparent death of Kakashi-sempai," the ANBU responded. "Immediately after he left, Haruno-san began to head here. She's apparently attempting to avoid being observed, but not with any great skill."

"Interesting," Shizune said. "Bring her to me." Tsunade's attendant quickly began to clear her desk of anything sensitive as the ANBU vanished in another puff of smoke.

A few minutes later, a visibly frightened Haruno Amaya was dragged into Shizune's office. She carried a large bundle that Shizune easily recognized in her arms. "Are you the Hokage?" she asked nervously.

Shizune smiled comfortingly at the dark-haired woman. It was obvious from her looks that Sakura was her daughter, despite the differing hair colors. "No, Haruno-san," she said simply. "I am Hokage-sama's assistant. My name is Shizune." She glanced at the pair of ANBU who had brought in Amaya. "Leave us." The two elite ninja complied.

The woman held out her burden. "Can you… make sure that Sakura-chan gets this, when the time comes? It was her father's."

Shizune took it. "Of course." This was rather unexpected, given all she knew of Sakura's difficulties with her mother.

"Also," Amaya began, then sighed. "This is why I decided to come," she said, holding out an envelope. "When Inoichi told me what had happened, I couldn't just let it sit unread."

Shizune's eyes widened when she saw who the letter was from. "I'll make sure she gets it as soon as possible," Shizune said.

"Thank you, Shizune-sama," Amaya said nervously.

"I have a question, though," Shizune said. "Why did you try to hide yourself when you came here?"

Amaya shrank back. "The Mist," she muttered quietly. "I don't want to risk them seeing me."

"Their jounin leader has assured Hokage-sama personally that they aren't after you," Shizune said gently. "They aren't in the village right now, anyway."

It seemed as though a burden had been lifted from Amaya's shoulders. "Thank you," she repeated.

Shizune pondered whether to press the woman on repairing her relationship with her daughter, but decided against it. It looked like that situation was on the way to resolving itself without further intervention. "Unless you have anything else, you can leave," she said after a moment.

Amaya hesitated for a moment. "Thank you," she said for a third time, then she let herself out.

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings

1) The first Naruto movie is not canon for this story, which is a good thing since I haven't seen it. However, some elements from it fit nicely, so in they come. I tried to give myself enough room to play around in without necessarily contradicting the movie, based on what I've read about it, but I'm not overly worried about that.

2) We saw more of Naruto this chapter, as I promised several people. It would have been hard to see less, after all. I know some would have liked to see a heavier focus on him and less or no Sakura this chapter to balance out last chapter, but things just didn't work out that way. If all goes to plan, we will be seeing a bit more Naruto than Sakura over the next several chapters, though.

3) As always, I welcome any and all comments from readers. Thanks go to the Eternal Lost Lurker for his comments on the draft.

4) Next time, in One Hundred Days Chapter Eight, Lost Words: The mission to Rice Field Country ends. Naruto and Jiraiya land themselves in some rather embarrassing situations. Also, Akatsuki strikes!

Draft Started: February 9, 2006  
Draft Finished: February 28, 2006  
Draft Released: February 28, 2006  
Final Released: March 01, 2006


	9. Chapter 8: Lost Words

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 8: Lost Words

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, bears. Oh my!

* * *

**Day Forty-eight**

"Water Replication Technique!" Aoki Saburo shouted as he formed the last of the far too familiar sequence of seals. Painstakingly slowly, the surface of the lake he stood on stirred, water rising up and forming a perfect copy of the Mist genin. For an instant, Saburo thought that he finally had successfully completed the technique. Then, his control slipped for a moment, and the water clone dissolved into a spray of water. Saburo cursed once.

The other person standing on the lake had to move aside to avoid being splashed. "You should give it up, Saburo," Haruno Midori advised her teammate. "You're almost as bad with that technique as you are with genjutsu. Just stick to the suicide version."

"I am not bad at genjutsu!" Saburo protested. "I was able to see through that Sand team's techniques just fine! I'm just not as good at it as you or Ren!"

Midori grinned. "Look me in the eyes and say that," she said challengingly.

Saburo grimaced. "Calling your family techniques genjutsu is like calling that stuff Mitarashi-sensei is teaching Ren-chan taijutsu."

"Saburo," Midori said dryly, "Mitarashi-sensei is teaching Ren taijutsu."

Saburo snorted. "Taijutsu can't set you on fire."

"You're just jealous," Midori said with a laugh. "I didn't have the control to learn Mitarashi-sensei's techniques either, but you don't see me whining about it."

"I am not whining." Deliberately turning away from his teammate, Saburo began to work his way through the seals for the Water Replication Technique again.

"You missed a seal," a quiet voice stated.

Saburo's hands froze and he began to look about wildly for the source of the voice. Midori jumped backward, a kunai in her hands. "Who's there?" she demanded.

A black-clad kunoichi emerged from the lake, and despite her apparent immersion in the water she seemed perfectly dry. Neither genin had eyes for that though, all their attention on the smooth mask of a Mist hunter ninja the woman wore. Unlike the masks of the Leaf's ANBU, all Mist hunter ninja masks were almost identical, featureless except for the the Mist's symbol and the painted markings that spelled out the ninja's rank. On a mission, Mist hunter ninja were supposed to consider themselves interchangeable hands of the village, and nothing more.

Midori didn't relax in the slightest. "What do you require?" she asked, her voice carefully respectful, before Saburo could say anything.

The hunter ninja answered her with another question. "Where is Mitarashi Kimi?"

"I'm here." Kimi stepped out of the forest surrounding the small lake, Shimano Ren trailing behind her. "I trust you took steps so that the Leaf guards would not notice your arrival."

The hunter ninja vanished, reappearing in a puff of smoke on the shore near the Mist jounin. "Of course, Mitarashi-san," she responded. "Though I would hardly call a single jounin and a team of genin a guard force. The Leaf are far too trusting."

"From my observations," Kimi said, "the Leaf's manpower situation is more desperate than we'd been lead to believe by their actions. It's a miracle they've been able to complete as many missions as they have been."

"I have been asked to request a report on the Haruno matter, since I was passing through the area," the hunter ninja stated. Behind her, on the lake's surface, Midori tensed even further.

Saburo laid a hand on his teammate's shoulder. "Easy," he said softly.

"I'm not an idiot," was all Midori said in reply.

"Haruno Amaya and Haruno Sakura were the only Haruno I found evidence of in the Leaf Village," Kimi said. "No missing ninja."

"Haruno Amaya." The hunter ninja paused momentarily, perhaps struggling to remember the name. "Is there any sign that she has revealed any secrets to this Haruno Sakura?"

Kimi looked over the other adult's shoulder. "Midori?" The hunter ninja turned slightly to look at the genin.

"No." Midori's face was hard. "Sakura knew nothing."

"She is Haruno Amaya's daughter?" the hunter ninja asked Kimi.

"Yes." Without waiting for the hunter ninja to ask another question, Kimi continued. "And no, I was not able to uncover the identity of the father. It isn't common knowledge."

"I see." The hunter ninja paused again, then suddenly pulled out a scroll. "Here are your formal orders."

Kimi accepted the scroll, unrolling it and quickly scanning it with her dark eyes. "S-rank mission, huh?" Behind her, Ren gulped nervously. Saburo glanced at Midori, and saw that even she had paled. They'd all known that something was in the works since their teacher had met with that ninja from the Sound, but an S-rank mission?

"I have been ordered to emphasize that we will proceed on a strict time-table." The hunter ninja formed a single seal. "If you can't get to the rendezvous point in time for the extraction, you will be on your own."

"Understood," Kimi stated. The hunter ninja nodded once, then dissolved into water.

* * *

The first thing Naruto noticed was the cold. He was lying on something slick and wet, and he was chilled even through the jacket he was wearing. He quickly sat up, opening his eyes and looking around. He was on a large chunk of ice, floating in the middle of the ocean. Kitakami Rui was kneeling in the center of ice, her back turned to Naruto. "So, you're up, Naru-san," she said softly, turning around to face him. "Though I suppose that isn't your real name."

"Eh?" Naruto asked.

Rui smiled slightly, though the expression quickly faded. "Not many parents would be cruel enough to name their son Naru."

Naruto could feel his cheeks heat. She knew, then. Then his cheeks flushed even more. "You didn't," he began, checking reflexively to make sure he was still fully dressed.

Now it was Rui's face that colored. "I was going to check your wounds," she muttered, averting her eyes.

Wounds? Naruto closed his eyes briefly, trying to reassemble his scattered memories. That woman Rui had called her grandmother, who'd looked far too young for that, had attacked them with all those ice shards, and he'd been forced to unseal some of the chakra Jiraiya had locked away to make a Whirlwind Shield strong enough to protect them. Naruto opened his eyes. "What happened?"

Rui, perhaps grateful for the change of subject, launched into an explanation. "You did… something, that gave yourself more chakra and used that wind technique to stop the worst of the attack, but you still got hit pretty badly."

"What about the ship?" Naruto glanced about, but he saw nothing but empty ocean surrounding the floating chunk of ice.

"The slavers sunk it," Rui said flatly. "After they took everyone prisoner of course."

Naruto blinked at that. Surely Jiraiya could have stopped them easily. "What about… my uncle? And your brother?"

"Is he really your uncle?" Rui asked. When Naruto didn't answer, she sighed. "I'm sorry. It's none of my business." She paused momentarily. "Would you tell me your name, though?"

"Naruto." There couldn't be any harm in that, since she already knew he was a boy.

Rui gave a slight nod. "From what I could tell, Ichizo and Jiro-san were taken alive." It took all of Naruto's willpower not to frown. What could have possibly made Jiraiya surrender? Rui continued, "I didn't want to get too close, though, to avoid attracting my grandmother's attention." She grimaced slightly.

"The lady who attacked us?" Naruto asked. When Rui nodded, he continued. "She seemed too young to be your grandmother."

"It's a side effect," Rui said. Taking in Naruto's puzzled look, she sighed. "I suppose I should give you the whole story, since you're already involved. Have you ever heard of the snow maidens?"

"Maybe," Naruto said. "I think I heard a story once."

Rui nodded. "They're winter spirits. When the Hidden Snow was first founded, the leaders of the clans signed a powerful contract with the snow maidens."

"A summoning contract?" Naruto asked.

"Not quite," Rui answered. "The snow maidens agreed to lend their strength to the Hidden Snow in return for various favors. They taught the Snow the secrets of ice element techniques and gave us the ability to easily create ice without using as much chakra as it would normally take."

"So where does this Yuki lady come in?" Naruto wondered idly why everyone seemed to think he needed history lessons.

"She was one of the most powerful Snow ninja, right before the fall." Rui grimaced. "She used a forbidden technique to kill a snow maiden and seal its power within herself, then fled the village. The snow maidens considered the contract dissolved and withdrew their support. Without access to our most powerful techniques, we were helpless to stop the Rock and Cloud from destroying the village." Rui sighed. "That's who Kitakami Yuki is, Naruto-san." For a long moment, her eyes lingered on Naruto's stomach.

His own eyes widened and Naruto paled. "Rui-san," he began, but he wasn't certain what to say next.

"I won't ask," Rui said, her voice harsh. "I've got no intention of prying into your business. I have enough problems of my own." For an instant, Naruto could swear he saw tears in her eyes, but then she looked away.

"What are we going to do now?" Naruto asked nervously.

For a long moment Rui said nothing, but eventually she answered. "I tried to follow the slaver ship, but someone used a powerful genjutsu and I lost track of it." Her voice was carefully flat, devoid of any emotion. "Grandmother said that we could find her on Hakuhyou Island, but I don't know where that is. Do you?"

Naruto shook his head. "How would it matter, anyway? Do you know where we are?"

"More or less," Rui stated. "I overheard that our ship was sailing close to the Hail Country."

"Hail Country?"

Rui sighed. "It's the largest island in the Gulf of Storms, almost midway between the Earth and Lightning countries."

"Oh," Naruto said. "But how will we find it? There aren't exactly any landmarks."

Rui pointed into the overcast sky. "I've seen birds that don't normally fly far from land. I've been following them." For the first time, Naruto realized that the piece of ice they were sitting on was moving and doing so fairly rapidly. "Hopefully, we'll be within sight of land before nightfall."

Something occurred to Naruto, and he swallowed nervously. "Um, Rui-san?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"I should… probably stay in my disguise. Could you play along?" Naruto couldn't believe he was asking that, but he could imagine Jiraiya lecturing him if he wasn't still pretending to be Naru when they met again.

Rui just nodded. "Of course," she said. For a moment, Naruto thought that she was going to ask a question, but she visibly forced her curiosity aside and concentrated on moving their ice raft through the water.

* * *

Sakura, for what seemed like the thousandth time, checked her weapons and other supplies carefully. She knew that it was possible to cross the border into Rice Field Country without problems; she'd done it before, after all. That didn't keep her from worrying that this time they would happen across a Sound border patrol. No matter how many times she inspected her equipment, she couldn't make herself feel ready for that. The battles she had fought before were one thing, but that would be the real thing in a way even the second part of the Chuunin Exam wasn't.

Kurenai held up a hand, stopping the group before they emerged from the trees that lined the river. Silently, she gestured for the genin to draw near. Sakura complied, her eyes scanning the opposite bank - the Rice Field Country - as she moved from tree to tree to stand beside the jounin. When everyone was gathered, Kurenai pointed at Hinata.

That was apparently enough to get the message across, as the silver-eyed girl nodded and rapidly formed a sequence of seals. "Byakugan," she breathed, so softly that Sakura almost couldn't hear the word, and the veins around Hinata's eyes bulged. Her gaze flicked quickly from side to side, then she relaxed, deactivating her Bloodline Limit. She pointed at a heavy patch of undergrowth almost directly across from the Leaf team, then held up four fingers.

Kurenai traced a musical note in the air with one finger, and Hinata nodded. Frowning, Kurenai pointed at her eye, then at where the enemy ninja were waiting. Hinata shook her head quickly. Sakura guessed that this meant that the enemy ninja did not appear to have spotted them. Kurenai nodded once, then pointed to the west. The meaning was easy enough to guess. Kurenai pointed at Kiba, and the Inuzuka began to move cautiously, his dog trailing after him.

Several moments after he was out of sight, Kurenai laid a hand on Sakura's shoulder. When she released her grip, Sakura moved to the next tree to the west. Sparing a quick glance at where the apparently still-oblivious Sound ninja were hidden, she made her way as carefully as she could through the trees. Several minutes later, she found Kiba waiting underneath a massive tree. He grunted as Sakura came into his line of sight, but thankfully didn't say anything.

Not long later the group was reunited. "We'll head just a little further north before crossing," Kurenai said quietly. "We'll move in the same order. Kiba, look out for infiltrators on this side of the river. Hinata, keep scanning the other bank."

"How much farther north?" Kiba asked.

"About a mile," Kurenai said. Without another word, Kiba left, and shortly thereafter Sakura followed him again. This time, they were close enough that she could see her temporary teammate moving ahead of her, but no words passed between them. She knew that Shino was not far behind her, but when she glanced backward she saw no sign of the bug user.

The mile passed quickly, and she almost passed Kiba when he suddenly stopped. "Is something wrong?" she forced herself to ask. Kiba just shook his head curtly, staring at something ahead. Sakura followed her gaze, then gasped as she saw the two massive statues flanking the waterfall just ahead of them. She swallowed, an unpleasant feeling settling into her gut. "The Valley of the End."

"I thought the terrain was getting familiar," Kiba muttered.

"So this is it," Shino said as he appeared behind the other two ninja.

A moment later, Hinata and Kurenai joined the trio. The jounin didn't seem to notice Sakura and Kiba's discomfort, instead simply asking, "Hinata?"

The Hyuuga heir shook her head. "No one on the other side."

"Good," Kurenai said. "Let's go ahead and cross, then."

Something snapped inside Sakura, and without waiting for Kurenai to give them a marching order she raced ahead. She could hear startled curses behind her, but she ignored them as she reached the massive statues and began to leap down the First Hokage. Moments later, she reached the bottom.

She paled as she saw the craters and rubble scattered on both sides of the river at the base of the statues. What was this? Had Naruto and Sasuke really caused this? What sort of battle had it been? What strengths had her teammates been hiding, that their conflict had scarred the monuments like this?

She fell to her knees, a bitter taste rising in her throat. What good was all her training? Before this mission, she had thought she had come so far. Yet Hinata had swept her aside like nothing, and she knew that there was nothing she could have done in the battle that must have occurred here. Even worse, Naruto and Sasuke were not going to be standing still, waiting for her to play catch-up. "Damn it," Sakura growled. Her eyes watered, and for once she didn't struggle to hold in the tears. "After all this, I'm still just watching their backs."

Someone landed behind her. "What do you think you're doing, you idiot?" Kiba snarled at her.

What did she think she was doing? Sakura began to laugh bitterly. "We'll do it together," she said, not caring that the rest of the team had arrived and were staring at her. "That's what I told him. Next time, we'll do it together." She couldn't stop either the laughter or the tears. "I am an idiot."

Kiba circled around in front of her and stared at her for a moment. "Get a hold of yourself, Sakura," he said harshly. Then he punched her.

Sakura's laughter stopped instantly, and she raised a hand to her cheek, where the blow had landed. Hinata had struck the other cheek, a dry part of her noted. "I thought you said you wouldn't hit a girl like that," she found herself saying.

"That's different," Kiba muttered. After a moment he offered her a hand, which Sakura hesitatingly accepted. As he helped her up, he said, "This doesn't mean I forgive you or anything, Haruno."

"Of course," Sakura said after a moment. She glanced about, looking at the other ninja. "I'm sorry," she forced herself to say. "It won't happen again."

Kurenai nodded. "Good," she stated, and she seemed to be inclined to let it pass. "We're going to head due north into Rice Field Country, same order as before. Stick together, and be careful. Remember that we'll be in enemy territory. Understand?"

"Understood," Sakura said quietly, echoed by the other three genin. After a moment, Kiba began to run across the lake, and after pausing to concentrate her chakra in her feet Sakura followed him. She forced herself not to look at the evidence of her teammates' battle on the other side as they began to move up the statue there.

However, when she was paused to rest briefly about halfway up the statue, she couldn't stop herself from looking down at the Valley of the End. She rubbed the last tears from her eyes. "Naruto," she said quietly enough that she could barely hear her own voice over the roaring of the waterfall. "Sasuke-kun." She opened her mouth again, but she couldn't find the words to say. For an instant, the despair that had overwhelmed her on the valley floor came back to her, but she forced it aside. If anyone would be able to help her reach her goal, it was the Hokage. She was so close to meeting the Hokage's conditions to begin training. She wasn't going to give up now. With renewed strength, she resumed her climb.

* * *

**Day Forty-nine**

Despite the fact that his life over the past couple days could easily have become the plot for the next of his novels, Jiraiya was anything but happy. Sure Kitakami Yuki was just as fun as she'd been decades ago in the Hidden Village of Snow, but - strange though it may have seemed to some who knew him - he had far more important things on his mind than sex. Now, for once left alone in the luxurious cabin he'd been sharing with Yuki aboard her massive warship, Jiraiya was able to devote his full attention to those many things.

The first of those was the reason that Yuki hadn't even needed to lock the cabin door. He'd thought that he was about to have a heart attack when he'd seen the man in that far-too-familiar red and black cloak watching his brief fight with Yuki. Thankfully, he wasn't one of the Akatsuki members Jiraiya had encountered before, and he hadn't been recognized. He didn't trust his disguise to hold up under more direct scrutiny, though.

If the Akatsuki member learned of Jiraiya's presence, it wouldn't take much to conclude that Naruto had been on board the ship. A quick check of the prisoners would make it obvious the boy wasn't with them, and Jiraiya had no doubt that Yuki would find herself forced to turn the ship around and look for any signs that Rui and Naruto had survived the battle after that. That had to be avoided.

Jiraiya forced himself not to think of the possibility that Naruto was dead. Surely the boy would have completely released the chakra Jiraiya had sealed before that could happen, and Jiraiya was certain that he would have felt that. He certainly would have noticed if Naruto had started drawing on the Kyuubi's power. Rui hadn't seemed the type to die easily, either. No, he was as close to certain as he could be that they lived. That wasn't close enough to make him comfortable, though.

He had to get back together with Naruto as quickly as possible, without making a display of power that would attract Akatsuki's attention. The only advantage he had was that Yuki had told Rui to seek her out and given her the location of the slavers' fortress. How he could handle the situation when Naruto arrived, though, was difficult to determine. Getting out of this mess without alerting Akatsuki to his presence would be more than simply troublesome.

For the moment, though, it seemed as though all he could do was wait. With a sigh, Jiraiya pulled off of a shelf by the cabin's large bed the first of his books - Yuki, it had been revealed, had acquired a complete collection which she had made him autograph. He began to flip through it idly, occasionally wincing at some of the more poorly constructed prose. He hated re-reading his earliest writing - it was almost as bad as that completely inaccurate "Tale of the Sannin" that was so popular here in the north. With a sigh, Jiraiya put the book up. Maybe he could at least get some writing done while he was waiting.

Before he could get started with that, though, the door to the cabin flung open and admitted Kitakami Yuki herself. She was still just as beautiful as she'd been decades ago, though her once-black hair had turned silver - not from age, for the rest of her showed no sign that she was almost as old as Jiraiya himself. Yuki slammed the door behind her and stalked over to the bed, seating herself next to Jiraiya. "I swear," she said, "working with Akatsuki is even more frustrating than dealing with Orochimaru. At least Orochimaru doesn't try to hit on me all the time."

"Oh?" Jiraiya asked, carefully placing just the right amount of curiosity in the questioning sound.

Yuki smiled slightly. "I think my guest's jealous of you," she said, then let out a little laugh. "I think he finally got the hint when I told him I didn't take freaks with more than one mouth as lovers, though."

Jiraiya blinked at that. He hadn't gotten a good look at the man, but he'd seemed relatively normal from his glimpse. "You do work with Orochimaru?" he asked after a moment.

"Where do you think I sell most of my slaves?" Yuki replied. "That teammate of yours has an insatiable thirst for experimental subjects."

"I see," Jiraiya said. It wasn't surprising, but it was another item in the long list of crimes for which he would one day make Orochimaru pay. "It's odd for you to be hosting a member of Akatsuki, then."

Yuki shrugged. "I didn't really have a choice. He just showed up at my fortress a few weeks ago and demanded that I help him find and acquire a strong slave." She smiled. "If you weren't so much fun, I might give him you, particularly since he asked me to keep an eye out for you anyway." She gave Jiraiya a curious look.

Jiraiya ignored the implied question. "A strong slave?" he asked. "That's strange. A strong ninja wouldn't let himself stay a slave for very long."

"I don't understand it entirely either," Yuki said. "He apparently wants a gift for his new partner. Something about art, he says, and I get the impression I'd be happier not knowing the details, so I haven't asked for them."

"I see," Jiraiya said. "I suppose I should be glad you find me pleasant company, then."

"You should," Yuki agreed. She glanced at her bookshelf. "Reading your own work?" she asked. "I always did like the first one best."

Jiraiya sighed. It wasn't worth commenting that she had poor taste. That just wasn't the sort of thing you said to an S-class criminal who had the ability to create any number of difficulties for you. He had enough of those in his life already without adding Yuki to the list. "Just killing time," he said.

"I know much more pleasant ways to do that," Yuki said.

"I'm sure," Jiraiya said dryly, "but even I'm a little tired after last night."

"The mighty Jiraiya-sama, laid low by a little woman like me?" Yuki asked mockingly.

"So it seems." Jiraiya let himself fall back onto the bed.

"I suppose we'll have to pass the time in other ways, then," Yuki said. "Tell me, why is Akatsuki looking for you?"

Jiraiya couldn't stop himself from tensing, then he forced himself to relax. "I found out too much about them, back when I was looking for Orochimaru."

Yuki shook her head. "Don't lie to me, Jiraiya. I'm not an idiot." She laughed. "A legend like you should have been able to hide his reactions better."

"I said I'm tired, didn't I?" Jiraiya asked. He sat up again, rubbing at his eyes. This was risky, but perhaps the benefits outweighed the risk. "You might find out, when Rui arrives."

Yuki's eyes narrowed. "The cross-dresser, huh?" she asked. Without waiting for a reply, she continued, "He must be -"

"Interesting," Jiraiya finished for her. "If you let him live, I'll let you see why."

Yuki's eyes were now alight with curiosity. "I might just do that," she said, "if he's not dead already." She grinned. "Then again, maybe I'll just work the answer out of you now." She scooted over on the bed. "I think I convince you that you aren't as tired as you think you are, in any case."

Jiraiya forced himself to grin lecherously at her. It seemed as though Yuki wouldn't kill Naruto out of hand when he arrived at her fortress now. That was something, at least. The questions of how he would get the two of them away from there remained, but he was willing to let himself be distracted from them for a while. Whatever else she was, Kitakami Yuki was certainly an excellent distraction.

* * *

Naruto and Rui had spent the night on an abandoned beach, after making landfall shortly before sunset. From the little exploring they had done before going to sleep - Rui had been almost completely exhausted from the exertion of maintaining the ice raft - this part of the Hail Country was not heavily populated, though they had stumbled across a narrow path running parallel to the shore. Fortunately, the weather hadn't lived up to the country's name - there was nowhere nearby where they could have easily taken shelter during a hailstorm.

Now they were traveling down the road they had found, having picked the direction of their travel randomly. Eventually, the road had to enter a town, and unless it turned away from the shoreline that town would be a port. Once there, they would be able, with luck, to find a ship they could take to Hakuhyou Island. Naruto tried hard not to think of what would happen there. If this Kitakami Yuki had been able to force Jiraiya to surrender, what could they possibly do against her?

Naruto rubbed at his stomach, then gasped at the sudden fiery pain the action ignited. He could feel the spiral seal appearing around his navel, feel some terrible pressure building there. "Is something wrong, Naru-san?" Rui asked, hesitating slightly before saying Naruto's false name.

With effort, Naruto managed to somehow force the pain down. Slowly, the fiery sensation died, the pressure was relieved, and, he knew somehow, the dark spiral vanished again. What was going on? He'd never felt like that before. "Nothing," he told Rui anyway, forcing himself to smile brightly. "Let's keep moving."

For a while after that, Rui gave Naruto an occasional worried gaze, but as they continued to travel her worries seemed to turn inward. She walked silently beside her companion, barely glancing about as the wilderness began to give way to well-tended fields. When Naruto first suggested that they stop to find lunch somehow, she didn't respond, and he had to repeat himself before she seemed to notice his words.

"No," she said softly. "I think we're getting close to a town. Let's just push on." Naruto nodded, but now he returned the worried glances that Rui had given him earlier in the morning. When Rui tripped over a stone in the middle of the road, Naruto caught her. "Thank you," she said softly.

Naruto gave the kunoichi another worried glance. She should have noticed that stone if she'd been paying any attention to where she was going. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Rui met his gaze. "No," she admitted. "I've been training for years to be the one to bring Kitakami Yuki to justice. I've hated her all my life; I'm supposed to be the avenger for our village, and yet I couldn't even defeat her replication. And because of my weakness, she's captured my brother." Her voice was bitter, and when she finished she looked away. "I shouldn't trouble you with my problems," she said.

For a while, Naruto didn't respond, his mind on other words that he had heard what seemed like a long time ago, but had in truth only been a few months. "I hated you, I detested you, and just to kill you, I've survived!" That was what Sasuke had said when he had finally met his brother again.

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed. At least Rui seemed somewhat less likely to… well, he didn't want to think about that just now. He had enough things to worry about.

"What?" Rui asked, briefly startled out of her depression.

Naruto realized that his fists were clenched, and he forced himself to relax. "Nothing," he told his companion for the second time in one day. "Let's keep moving."

Rui gave him a long look, and it was clear that she knew that there was something Naruto didn't want to share with her. Still, she kept to her promise not to pry into Naruto's many secrets. Instead, she wordlessly started walking again, this time keeping a careful eye on the dirt path. After a moment, Naruto began to follow after her, racing briefly to catch up.

About an hour after that, they reached a town. It was encircled by a rough wooden wall, and the gate that the road passed through was guarded by two non-uniformed men with spears. The town didn't look to be terribly big - from the little Naruto could see it seemed maybe twice the size of the village in Earth Country where he'd found a doctor for Jiraiya after their first battle with those bee ninja.

Rui nodded to herself. "I think I know where we are now," she said. "Have you ever been to Hail Country, Naru-san?" she asked.

"No," Naruto answered.

"Then it's best I do the talking," Rui said. "There's no hidden village in this country, but there are still ninja. If we aren't careful, we could run into trouble with them."

That made sense. "All right," Naruto said, and he followed Rui up to the open gate. As they neared, the two guards stiffened, and one of them stepped forward to intercept the pair.

"Who goes there?" the guard asked, boredom evident in his voice.

Rui smiled politely at the guard. "I am Kitakami Rui, and my companion is called Naru." The second guard had leaned his spear against the wall and pulled out a pencil and a small pad. He quickly noted down the names.

"Any trade goods or weapons to declare?" the first guard continued, clearly reciting from a memorized list.

Rui and Naruto traded an amused glance. "No trade goods," Rui said, "but it would take quite a while to list all our weapons, if we were so inclined."

The guard blinked, then studied the two travelers for a moment. "You're kunoichi?" he asked. When Rui nodded, he sighed. "No weapon tax, then," he said, "but if you plan to stick around you should head for the town hall and get a license."

"We're looking for a ship," Rui said. "We won't be staying long."

"All right," the guard said. He took a step back, and the other guard put up his pad. "Enjoy your stay."

"Thank you," Rui said, and then she led Naruto through the open gates. Glancing aside, Naruto noticed that the gates showed no sign of having been closed in a very long time. Past the gates, the road they'd been following vanished into a confusing warren of buildings. "So, what now?" Rui asked.

Naruto's stomach answered for him, growling loudly. Laughing embarrassedly, he elaborated. "Lunch?" He pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I wonder if there's anywhere here that sells ramen."

Rui blinked. "Ramen? Are you from the south, then?"

It took Naruto a moment to decide how to respond. "I like ramen," he said simply.

Rui laughed slightly. "You're a… woman of mystery, aren't you? I suppose it still isn't any of my business." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "I hope for your sake you aren't hiding anything I ought to know." Naruto carefully shook his head, and Rui relaxed. "In any case, you remind me of a problem we face." She grimaced. "Ichizo was the one who handled most of our money, and I wasn't carrying much."

Naruto had not considered this, but he pulled out his stuffed frog wallet. He hadn't had much chance to spend money since he'd left the Leaf Village with Jiraiya, had he? "I always carry mine with me. Otherwise Er… my uncle would steal it."

Rui laughed slightly again, though Naruto couldn't tell what at. "That's horrible," she said lightly, suppressing another laugh. "That should be more than enough for lunch, I suppose. A ship might be another matter, though."

"Can't we do what we did before and be guards?" Naruto wasn't able to restrain a grimace at the thought of how ineffective they had been.

Rui's face also darkened, but she quickly smoothed it. "Perhaps, if there's a ship heading for this Hakuhyou Island. I've never heard of it, though, so it can't be very big. I imagine we might have to hire a ship, and that's expensive." Her face darkened again. "With a good map, I might be able to keep an ice raft going long enough if it's close, but I wouldn't be in any condition to fight when we arrived."

"I see," Naruto said after a moment.

Rui gave him a smile that was clearly forced. "Let's get some lunch, and worry about that when we're fed."

Naruto was not going to disagree with that plan.

* * *

**Day Fifty**

Despite the delays on the journey and the near-encounter with the Sound border patrol, the team of Leaf ninja had arrived at the place where they were to meet with the Fuuma Clan's representatives a day early and without having to fight any battles. Kurenai had taken advantage of their early arrival, ordering the genin under her command to scout the area and search for any signs an ambush was being planned. They had not found any definitive signs of such, though the fact that the nearby village their maps showed seemed to have been abandoned several months prior was more than a little disturbing.

The village had been picked clean of anything valuable, but they hadn't been able to figure out whether this was a sign that the inhabitants had taken time to gather their belongings before leaving or simply evidence of the work of looters. There were only inconclusive hints as to whether or not there had been any fighting, and Sakura wasn't certain which answer was more frightening. Regardless, that village made things clear that something was wrong with Rice Field Country, even more than the poverty and despair she had seen on her first visit. That had to be expected, she supposed, given that a man like Orochimaru ruled here - somehow, Sakura doubted he shared power gracefully with the country's daimyo.

The pink-haired kunoichi shook her head to clear it of her musings. Now was not the time to be pondering such matters. Right now, she and Kurenai were waiting at the planned meeting place for the Fuuma to arrive. Kiba was scouting the surrounding area, ready to sound warning of any uninvited guests. Shino and Hinata were well-hidden, serving as closer sentries and, if necessary, back-up. To Sakura fell the task of warning Kurenai if the representatives gave any sign that they were not who they claimed to be and providing evidence for them that the Leaf ninja were in fact Leaf ninja.

Sakura wasn't certain how good she would be at that task. She had seen only a handful of members of the Fuuma Clan, and most of those had been enemies who had since died. The only surviving person from the clan who she could truly say she knew was Fuuma Sasame, the girl who had helped them find the Sound Village. There was no guarantee that Sasame would be one of the representatives, and no real reason why she would be. Still, Sakura had to admit, she was better than nothing, and she supposed that was why the Hokage had insisted on assigning her to this mission. It certainly wasn't because of her skills. While she wasn't incompetent at scouting, her meager talent was pointless in the face of Kurenai's highly-trained team and the advantages they had.

"I've been watching your training," Kurenai said suddenly, distracting Sakura from her musings. "It seems like all you're working on is taijutsu."

"I'm weakest at taijutsu," Sakura said after a moment.

Kurenai smiled slightly. "Run in the fields and seek strength," she quoted quietly from the Third Hokage's Motto of the Chuunin. "Is that it?"

"Yes," Sakura answered. She stretched her legs slightly, marveling at how quickly she was adjusting to the new set of weights. It still didn't feel anywhere near as light as the first pair had become before she'd taken them off, but from time to time she could still almost forget that she was wearing them.

Kurenai looked like she was about to say something, but then Akamaru howled in the distance. Both kunoichi froze, waiting as Akamaru barked several more times. "It's the Fuuma, then," Kurenai said, relaxing as the last sound faded and no more followed.

Sakura nodded. A few moments later, she was carefully studying the four ninja who approached her and the jounin. Sasame was, not surprisingly, not among them, but the ninja who seemed to be the leader of the group was vaguely familiar. He carried a large sword on his back, but his hands very carefully stayed low as he waved at the other three Fuuma ninja to stay back. He frowned as he studied Sakura briefly. "I remember you," he said. "You were… Sakuko?"

"Sakura," she replied smoothly. "Haruno Sakura."

The Fuuma ninja nodded. "That was it," he said, his attention turning to Kurenai. "I am Fuuma Hanzaki, and I serve as head of the Fuuma Clan."

"I am honored, Fuuma-sama," Kurenai said softly. "I am Yuuhi Kurenai, jounin of the Hidden Leaf."

Hanzaki smiled. "In all honesty, your position is more impressive at this point. I should probably be calling you Yuuhi-sama."

"That's hardly necessary," Kurenai demurred.

"Then at least call me Hanzaki-san," the Fuuma replied, "or Fuuma-san, if you must. Being called Fuuma-sama is embarrassing."

"As you wish, Hanzaki-san," Kurenai answered. "Shall we move on to business?"

"Very well," Hanzaki said. "I trust my proposal was agreeable to Hokage-sama?"

"Any aid against Orochimaru you can give is appreciated," Kurenai said, "though I, personally, must admit I was surprised when I was given this mission. The Fuuma Clan have always been enemies of the Hidden Leaf."

"And the ninja of the Wood Country before you," Hanzaki agreed. He paused and sighed. "I trust you scouted the area before this meeting?"

Kurenai nodded. "To do otherwise would have been foolish."

"Did you happen across an abandoned village?" the Fuuma head continued. The looks on the faces of the two Leaf ninja must have been enough, because he didn't wait for them to answer. "That was a prosperous, peaceful village, where the mayor foolishly decided to embezzle a little off the top of the local daimyo's taxes. When he was found out, the Hidden Sound descended on the village and took away every man, woman, and child that they could find." Hanzaki's eyes were hard and his voice carefully flat. "The best that can be hoped for is that they died quickly."

Sakura swallowed nervously, remembering the twisted monstrosities Orochimaru had created from the Fuuma Clan ninja who had served him. "That's horrible," she breathed.

"That's why we are willing to make common cause with the Hidden Leaf," Hanzaki replied. "We do not have the strength to stand against Orochimaru directly, but we must do what we can to help those who do. I picked this location for the meeting so that you would understand how serious the Fuuma are about this."

"The Hidden Leaf will remember your aid," Kurenai said quietly, and then the two ninja turned to the details of how information would flow securely between the Fuuma and the Leaf and what support Leaf ninja operating in Rice Field Country could call upon. It was all Sakura could do to keep from showing her boredom as the conversation came to a close.

"Very well," Hanzaki said. He slowly and carefully pulled out a scroll, handing it to Kurenai. "That is everything we know on the Sound's border patrols. It's been changing because of the war with Hill Country, but it should be close enough to get you back to the Fire Country without any trouble."

"Thank you," Kurenai answered. Hanzaki bowed slightly, then stepped back to his companions. He bowed a second time, and then the Fuuma ninja vanished.

That night, when the Leaf ninja were camping not far from the border with Fire Country, Sakura went to her pack as usual to retrieve the arm weights Gai had given her. When she opened it, however, she she quickly noticed that there was an unfamiliar scroll hidden inside. Frowning, she pulled it out and opened it, quickly scanning the text. Her eye's widened as she realized what she held, and she jumped back to the beginning.

"It's a shame for a genjutsu-type to spend all her time practicing taijutsu," it said in simple, neat handwriting. "This genjutsu should be of some use."

Sakura looked up, glancing across the camp at Kurenai. The jounin, discussing something with Hinata, very deliberately did not return the look. Smiling slightly, Sakura looked back at the scroll, and eagerly began to read.

* * *

In the end, Naruto and Rui had managed to find a restaurant that served ramen, though Naruto had expounded at some length on how inferior its offerings on that front were, much to Rui's amusement and the owner's annoyance. They had then set about finding affordable lodgings, which had been some difficulty given their limited funds. Still, that too had been accomplished, however the fact that the tiny room barely had enough room for two futon meant that the pair had needed to sleep uncomfortably close to each other. Naruto thought that Rui's graphic threats of bodily harm if he accidentally rolled over onto her futon had been more than a little over the top.

Rui had lead Naruto to the town's small docks, where they had first investigated the two large merchant vessels there. Both ships, unfortunately, were heading directly back to Rock Country, and even had they not been, both already carried several ninja guards. Now, Rui had approached the most promising-seeming of the handful of smaller ships. The ship's owner spat when Rui had finished her question. "Hakuhyou Island?" He spat again. "Why do you want to go there?"

"There's someone we need to meet," Rui said flatly. "How much would it cost?

The man rubbed his bald scalp and named a gargantuan sum. "That's crazy!" Naruto shouted. "Why so much?"

"Hakuhyou Island's slaver territory, girl," the man answered. "Wouldn't do you any good to go there, though. The island's surrounded by ice all year round since the slavers set up shop there. Nobody knows a way through, except the slavers, I guess."

"I see," Rui murmured. She wasn't able to hide the excitement in her voice, and it was easy enough for Naruto to guess the cause. This meant that Yuki had not been lying when she told them to come to Hakuhyou Island.

"Listen," the man said, "if your friend told you to meet up on Hakuhyou Island, he's not got your best interests in mind. Unless…" He trailed off, gazing at the two ninja suspiciously.

Naruto blinked, quickly realizing what he was thinking. "We aren't slavers!" he protested loudly.

Rui winced, but her face stayed smooth. "It isn't a friend we intend to meet," she said quietly.

"I see," the man said. "You're not going to find anyone to take you there cheap though. Getting involved in ninja business is dangerous for ordinary folks like us."

"Thank you for your time," Rui said flatly, and she turned away. After a moment, Naruto followed her away.

"Wait just a minute!" a new voice called. Both ninja looked up to see the source, a woman standing on the deck of a small deck next to the one they had just investigated. "I couldn't help but overhear you talking with Tate there. You two are kunoichi?"

Rui glanced at Naruto briefly, but she nodded. "We are."

"I can't say that it'll give you enough money to get you to Hakuhyou Island, but Amagawa-san at the bathhouse has a job you might be interested in."

Rui nodded again. "Where is the bathhouse?" The woman quickly gave directions, and not long after Rui and Naruto found themselves ushered into the manager's office of a small bathhouse.

The bathhouse's owner, a plain, middle-aged woman studied the two ninja carefully after shutting the door. "You might do," she said simply.

"What is the job you offer, Amagawa-san?" Rui asked. "And the payment?"

"We've been having trouble with a peeper," Amagawa replied. "Ordinarily we could take care of it ourselves, but he seems to be a ninja. It's tough to spot him and we can't do anything to him when we do."

"I see," Rui said flatly. Naruto stirred slightly, something telling him that this mission might be… embarrassing.

"If you two can capture him and bring him to me, I can take care of the rest," Amagawa said. "It's just catching him that's the problem."

Rui gave Naruto a long glance, and he shuffled uncomfortably under it. Eventually, though, she turned away. "How much?" she said, and thus began the negotiations. It took a while, but a price was agreed on.

"It might be best for you to pretend to be patrons," Amagawa said after sealing the deal. "He normally starts about now."

Rui shook her head. "We'll work best if we're free to move," she said. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, you're the ninja," Amagawa said dubiously, giving Naruto a curious glance. "Good luck."

After they left the office, Rui leaned over and whispered into Naruto's ear, "You'd best keep your eyes strictly where they belong… Naruto-san."

The disguised boy nodded frantically. "I understand." He wasn't about to go looking at bathing women, anyway. Well, maybe if Sakura had been… Naruto shook his head to clear it of the mental image. That was the type of thing perverts like Jiraiya did.

The two ninja quickly found concealed observation points on the roof of the bathhouse. Despite his promise, Naruto found himself placed by Rui in a position where he couldn't see the open-air baths without turning around. Grumbling slightly about not being trusted, he settled down for a long wait. However, he was barely settled when the peeper showed up.

The short, nearly bald man made almost no effort to hide himself or look for guards, apparently lulled into a false sense of security by the weeks or months of easy pickings. Rui gestured at Naruto, and as one the two ninja jumped down to stand behind the man. "Amagawa-san would like to have a word with you," she said simply. Naruto cracked his knuckles eagerly.

The pervert turned away from the peephole he had been about to look through, raising a thin eyebrow as he looked at them. "She sent a couple of girls like you against me?" he asked, sighing loudly. "When will she learn?"

Naruto grinned. "Does that mean you won't come quietly?" he asked. He was, all things considered, in the mood for a fight. It would be distracting, at least.

"You girls should just go away now," the man said. "You can't beat me."

"What makes you say that?" Rui asked dangerously.

The man laughed. "Have you ever heard of the legendary Sannin, girl? I'm Jiraiya the Toad Hermit, and a couple of young kunoichi like you don't stand a chance against my power."

Naruto froze, and Rui took a step back. "What!" she asked.

Beside her the disguised boy recovered from his shock and doubled over laughing. "You," he managed to gasp out.

The man snarled. "I'll show you my power!" he shouted, his hands flicking through seals. "Katon: Ultimate Legendary Sannin Fireball Technique!" He spat out a small ball of flame, which hit Naruto dead on. There was a puff of smoke, and the man froze. "A replication?"

The real Naruto rose up out of the ground a few feet away from where the shadow clone had stood. His hands rapidly moved through a set of seals. "Doton: Grasping Hand Technique!" The earth rumbled, rising up into a large pair of hands. The man jumped away moments before they would have captured him, landing lightly on the rooftop.

Rui was there an instant later, lashing out with a spinning kick that caught the man directly in the chest. He stumbled backward, almost falling off the roof. "Damn it," he snarled, raising a arm to block Rui's next strike. Then he struck out wildly with his other arm at her.

The kunoichi danced back, forming seals. "Hyouton: One Hundred Diamond Shards," she intoned, sharp blades of ice materializing out of thin air. As they flew at him, the man cursed again, dropping down to the ground.

Naruto was ready for him, already forming seals. "Doton: Mud Wall Technique!" he shouted, his hands plunging toward the earth. As they made contact, the ground where the peeper was about to land surged upward, becoming a muddy barrier. The man plunged into it, helplessly struggling to free himself as Rui landed lightly beside him.

"Do you surrender?" the kunoichi asked simply, placing a kunai at his neck. The man nodded nervously.

Breathing heavily, Naruto raised his hands from the ground. He had more chakra than before, since he'd released some of it from Jiraiya's seal, but using so many techniques in quick succession, particularly the Shadow Replication Technique, had pushed him to his current limits. He wouldn't have been able to maintain the Mud Wall Technique for much longer against the target's struggles.

As the wall of mud collapsed, Rui quickly bound the man securely, before he could recover. As Naruto walked over, she was giving him a quick search and divesting him of the weapons she found. Rui looked up, grinning slightly, as Naruto neared. "Mission accomplished," she said.

Naruto nodded, glaring at the man. "Lying pervert," he muttered.

The man studied him carefully. "When you're older, maybe you'll understand… boy," he said flatly.

Rui's kunai found its way to his neck again. "You'd best keep that observation to yourself," she said softly. The man nodded frantically.

"Thank you," Naruto whispered to Rui.

She didn't say anything to Naruto, instead keeping her attention on the prisoner. "Now," she began, "Amagawa-san would like to have… words with you."

The peeper gulped nervously, but he didn't resist when Naruto and Rui forced him to rise and began to walk him over the building containing Amagawa's office.

* * *

**Day Fifty-one**

Yuki's suite in her fortress on Hakuhyou Island made her luxurious cabin on board her flagship look like a peasant's hut. There were enough rooms that Jiraiya even had one of his own, where he could retreat when Yuki was… entertaining. While he had apparently quickly become her favorite, Yuki evidently was not one for exclusive relationships. Jiraiya shifted uncomfortably. Why did she have to be so loud?

Still, he supposed that this provided a vital opportunity. He'd managed to get a decent, if quick, look at the fortress when Yuki had transfered him from the ship to the boat, but there was much to be said for having a closer look. Standing, Jiraiya's hands moved confidently through a set of seals. He wasn't a genjutsu-type, by any stretch of the definition, but one didn't get to be famed throughout the known world as one of the legendary Sannin by being incompetent at anything. After forming the last seal, he slipped out of his room - completely unhindered by the fact that the door was barred - and headed into the suite's antechamber.

Though the door into Yuki's own bedroom was slightly ajar, both she and her companion were far too distracted to notice Jiraiya's presence, even if he'd not been using genjutsu. Jiraiya's mouth formed into a slight smile as he saw the red and black cloak draped haphazardly over one chair. That explained why Yuki had been so insistent he stay in his room. Evidently, Yuki had overcome her prejudice against men with more than one mouth. Jiraiya wasn't terribly surprised, and this was awfully convenient. The one person he was afraid might notice his explorations was in no position to do so.

Quietly, Jiraiya slipped out of the antechamber and into the hallway outside Yuki's suite. Two guards stood outside the door, but Jiraiya's genjutsu was powerful enough that they didn't even notice the door opening and closing behind him. "Man," one of them said suddenly, "Tsuneo-sama's got to be pissed. First Yuki-sama passes him up for that fellow we picked up on that last ship, then when she throws him aside she goes to the Akatsuki instead of back to Tsuneo-sama."

Jiraiya paused, curious to hear the rest of the conversation. Dissension inside the slavers' ranks could prove useful. "She hasn't thrown away the prisoner yet," the other guard said. "I saw him moving into the spare bedroom in there."

The first guard laughed. "Got to be uncomfortable for him, then. He'd better hope that the Akatsuki isn't good in bed, otherwise he'll be heading down to the cells soon enough." So, the prisoners were kept in cells somewhere below here, Jiraiya concluded.

"Tsuneo-sama would love to see him there," the other guard replied, "but I don't know that it'll happen any time soon. I bet the prisoner gets pretty imaginative next time Yuki-sama takes him." The conversation quickly descended into uninspired crudities that Jiraiya would have been ashamed to include in one of his books - not because they were too obscene, but because they were spectacularly boring.

Deciding he wasn't going to overhear anything more of interest, Jiraiya left the guards behind and began to explore the fortress. It was laid out in a fairly standard fashion, and without too much trouble he managed to find the cells the two guards outside Yuki's suite had spoken of. The guards here were slightly more alert, though not enough that it took Jiraiya any real effort to get past them. The prison complex was not terribly large, mostly consisting of a handful of giant cells where most of the prisoners were kept. The person Jiraiya was looking for was not there, and he was not surprised. Keeping ninja in that kind of environment was foolish.

After several minute's of searching, he found the smaller, far more secure cells where captured ninja were kept. There was only a single such prisoner at the moment, Jiraiya noticed, and he stopped outside his cell. After carefully checking the position of the closest guard, Jiraiya adjusted his genjutsu slightly.

Inside his sell, Ichizo stirred. "Jiro-san!" he shouted. "What are you -"

Jiraiya raised a finger to his lips. His genjutsu was powerful enough that the guards were oblivious for now, but keeping loud noises unheard took effort. "Easy," he said.

Ichizo took a deep breath. "I thought Yuki had killed you, Jiro-san," he said.

Jiraiya shook his head. "No," he said, smiling slightly, "though I suppose if our genders were reversed you could call it a fate worse than death."

It took Ichizo a moment to understand what Jiraiya meant, and a disgusted look passed over his face. "Why did she send you to see then?" he demanded.

"She didn't send me," Jiraiya said. "I'm using genjutsu to keep the guards from noticing."

"Why did you come, then?" Ichizo asked.

"I wanted to let you know that Rui-san and Naru are probably still alive, and they're heading here." Jiraiya gave him a measuring look. "I'm waiting for them to come before I try to break us out."

Ichizo didn't ask how Jiraiya knew this. "I see," he said flatly. "And how do you expect to do that?"

"There are ships here," Jiraiya answered. "We can take one, and you and Rui ought to be able to clear a path through the ice."

Ichizo laughed. "Easier said than done."

"You'll find I'm a man of many surprises," Jiraiya said. "Be ready for when I come to let you out."

"I will," Ichizo said, but his voice made it clear he wasn't certain that day would ever come.

"By the way," Jiraiya said after a moment, "Yuki might put you in some situation to test your strength, probably with a man in a red and black cloak watching. I highly advise that you appear as weak as possible."

Ichizo blinked. "What?"

"I'm not entirely certain," Jiraiya said, "but seeming too strong could be dangerous for you." He paused, glancing at the closest guard again. "I should get going, before Yuki notices that I'm missing." Ichizo nodded, and Jiraiya left. He managed to make it back to his room without incident, and discovered that Yuki and her guest were still busy, as he had expected.

Jiraiya sighed as he laid back on his bed. This was a really bad situation to be in. It was certainly comfortable, but it was also extremely fragile. So long as Yuki was interested in him and the mystery he had posed regarding Naruto, he was safe enough, but the instant Yuki bored of either she could reveal his presence to Akatsuki in an instant. He guessed that her choice of lovers for the afternoon was meant to be a reminder to him of that fact.

Jiraiya rolled over with another sigh. He still didn't have any bright ideas about how to get out here once Rui and Naruto arrived without alerting Akatsuki. He couldn't risk another investigative journey through the fortress, either. There was too much chance of Yuki discovering it, and that could be disastrous. He'd just have to play the besotted fool until Rui and Naruto came, then improvise as best he could.

Perhaps it might be best to plan on eliminating both Yuki and the Akatsuki member at that time, if at all possible. Jiraiya rolled over again, and began to ponder battle strategies. Even for him, that might prove difficult.

* * *

Amagawa had given Naruto and Rui a bonus for their speedy resolution of the issue. While generous, this bonus had not appreciably affected the pair's financial situation. Hiring a ship to Hakuhyou Island was going to be incredibly expensive, and even if they had performed as lucrative a mission every day, it would have likely taken far too long to amass the required funds. The fact that they were spending money on food and lodging every day only made matters worse.

Rui, seated on her futon, sighed as she began to recount their money, as though this act would somehow make it begin to reproduce. "We're going to have to try and take some dangerous missions if we want to get to Hakuhyou Island anytime soon," she said. "Or we can chance an ice raft." They'd managed to find a map showing the location of their destination, and Hakuhyou Island was much farther away than Rui had ever traveled by such a means.

Naruto looked up. He'd been trying to get Jiraiya's Whirlwind Counter to work for himself, hoping that his recent luck with earth and water element techniques would carry over. Unfortunately, he hadn't yet made any real progress. He was beginning to think that this technique was specifically designed so that he couldn't learn it. "We already decided that was too dangerous," he said after a moment.

"I know," Rui sighed, setting the money aside. "I'm just not seeing much hope if we don't."

"Something will come up," Naruto said. "We already found one mission." His stomach rumbled suddenly.

Rui let out a short laugh. "I suppose we might as well get some lunch."

Naruto was on his feet in an instant. "All right!" he shouted. "Let's go back to that place and get some more ramen!"

Rui blinked. "I thought you didn't like that restaurant."

"Well," Naruto said, "it wasn't very good, but it was still ramen."

"I see," Rui said dryly. "After what you said last time, the owner will probably over-charge us, though, and that place wasn't exactly cheap to begin with. We should probably go somewhere else instead." She rose, and headed for the door.

Naruto pouted. "If you say so," he said, following Rui out of the room.

It only took them a few minutes to find a cheap food stand not far from the inn, and they ate as they made their way back. "So where will get missions?" Naruto asked. It wasn't like there was a Hokage here that would assign them missions.

"I'm not sure," Rui said. "We might have to -" She cut off suddenly, dropping the remnants of her lunch. A hand went to the hilt of a hidden kunai. "Come out!" she shouted.

Naruto looked about franticly, but saw no one. He frowned. This village was small, but it was rare for a street like this to be empty at this hour, so far as he had seen. One of his own hands found a kunai's hilt as he waited. Someone laughed, and he looked up to the rooftops for the source.

Three men stood on top of one building. The laughing man leapt down to the ground, landing lightly on his feet a few paces from Naruto and Rui. "So, you're the two who have been asking about Hakuhyou Island and took out the old pervert, huh?"

"What of it?" Rui asked. Her hand didn't move.

"We here in the Hail Country don't like nosy foreign ninja," the man said simply. "Particularly ones who undercut our prices. We decided we ought to teach you a lesson." Two kunai appeared in the man's hands and he casually tossed them at the pair of ninja in front of him.

Rui's kunai was drawn in an instant, knocking one of the oncoming weapons out of the air. Naruto jumped backward, throwing his own kunai at the man. He didn't move, and one of his allies on the rooftop intercepted Naruto's kunai with a hurled shuriken. The last enemy ninja raced along the rooftop, jumping down to land behind Naruto and Rui.

Rui's hands were moving through seals. "You've taken on more than you can handle. Hyouton: One Hundred Diamond Shards!"

The first enemy's eyes narrowed as he studied the glittering ice daggers that appeared in midair. "An ice element user, huh? Perhaps you will be going to Hakuhyou Island… in chains."

Rui formed another seal. "No," she stated simply. The ice shards flew in all directions, aimed with unerring accuracy at the surrounding ninja. The first used the Replacement Technique, leaving a piece of firewood behind. The ninja behind the pair managed to parry the shards that flew in his direction, while the ninja still on the rooftop simply jumped away, landing on top of another building. The first ninja reappeared beside him.

Naruto turned about, charging the ninja that was still on the ground. He hurled a kunai at Naruto, but the disguised boy managed to snag it out of the air and send it back at his foe. The enemy ninja dodged, but not quite quickly enough, the blade slicing through his shoulder. Cursing, he vanished in a sudden cloud of dust.

Rui, meanwhile, had jumped up to the roof on the other side of the street from the other two enemies. Even as she landed, her kunai left her hands, flying straight and true at one of her foes. The ninja split, jumping in opposite directions away from the weapon.

"You're not bad for a couple of girls," the ninja who had thus far done all the talking said. "You haven't seen the last of us yet, though." Before Rui or Naruto could respond, both he and his remaining ally vanished as well.

Rui jumped back down, landing lightly beside Naruto. "Are you all right, Naru-san?" she asked.

Naruto nodded. "I'm fine," he said, taking a few steps forward and picking up the bloody kunai that had wounded one of the Hail Country ninja.

"From the way they talked about Hakuhyou Island," Rui said after a moment, "they must be working with the slavers. We're going to have to be more careful."

"Right," Naruto agreed. He wasn't certain what they could do, though. After that, however, there was no more time for discussion, as a patrol of town guards poured into the street, demanding to know what had been going on.

Several hours later, Rui had finally managed to convince the guards to let them go, and the two ninja returned to their rented room. When Naruto opened the door, they both froze. Sitting on Naruto's futon was a strange man, who rose as the door opened. Rui quickly formed a seal.

The man raised a hand. "Wait. I'm not an enemy. I'm an agent of the daimyo."

Rui froze. "Explain," she snapped.

"Those ninja you ran into this afternoon," he said, "are associates of this town's mayor." He paused, as though he was wondering how much to say. "The daimyo has reason to believe that the mayor has been using those three as intermediaries to trade with the slavers of Hakuhyou Island, but not enough evidence to move against the mayor directly." He paused again.

"And?" Naruto asked.

"When I heard of the altercation you two were involved in, I thought you two might be amenable to helping me gather that evidence." He smiled. "In return, I can provide you with passage to Hakuhyou Island."

"You move quickly," Rui stated,

"I was already investigating you two," the man said, "from the moment I heard about two strangers asking about Hakuhyou Island."

Rui nodded. "It seems we have something to talk about. Your name?"

"I am called Kinji." He smiled. "May I have the honor of your names?"

Rui nodded. "I am Kitakami Rui. This is Naru."

The man's eyes widened slightly. "Kitakami?" he said. "Interesting." He smiled again. "Let's go somewhere more comfortable, and then we can get down to business."

* * *

**Day Fifty-two**

The trip back to the Leaf Village had been relatively uneventful. The Fuuma Clan's intelligence on the Sound border patrols had been accurate enough that they had been able to cross into the Fire Country without any difficulty - thankfully, not at the Valley of the End. While Sakura couldn't really say that she was on friendly terms with Kurenai's team, the journey back had not been nearly so awkward as the first half of the mission.

Kiba's occasional snarls and glares had become, so far as Sakura could tell, more habit than anything truly meaningful since her breakdown at the Valley of the End, and Hinata had seemed to have worked out most of her anger in their brief spar. Sakura flushed slightly as she thought of that. She didn't like to think of how easily she had been defeated. Lastly, Shino was… well, whatever Shino normally was.

Tsunade folded her hands in front of her face as Kurenai finished her report. "So, there weren't any difficulties, then?" she asked, her eyes settling on Sakura.

The pink-haired kunoichi stopped herself from swallowing nervously. "No, Hokage-sama," she said after a moment.

"Good," Tsunade said shortly. "Good work, all of you. Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba. You have leave for two days, and then will be leaving with Yamanaka Inoichi to return to the Wave Country."

"Back there?" Kiba groaned. "I was hoping we'd get to stay for the third exam, at least."

Tsunade didn't dignify that with a response. "Yuuhi-san, you'll be returning to your normal duties as well. Be here for the normal mission assignments this afternoon."

"Understood, Hokage-sama," the jounin replied softly.

"Haruno Sakura," Tsunade continued, and Sakura stiffened as the Hokage's eyes fell on her again. "You're off-duty for now, though you might have another mission before the third exam. I believe Shizune wanted to see you; you should report to her."

"Shizune-sama?" Sakura asked. While the Hokage's assistant had been helpful before, she couldn't think of any reason Shizune would want to meet with her. "All right," she said after a moment.

"That's all, then," Tsunade said. "You're dismissed."

The five ninja bowed, almost in unison, and let themselves out. Sakura turned away from the other four, about to head to Shizune's office, only to stop as Kiba spoke. "Hey," he said harshly. "Kick some ass in the third exam."

Sakura half-turned, staring blankly at Kiba. "Why -" she began.

"Because I don't want to have been defeated by a bunch of losers," Kiba said. "Tell that to Ino and Chouji too."

Sakura nodded. "Right." With that, she separated from Kurenai's team, and a few moments later she was knocking on Shizune's door.

"Come in," the older woman's voice came, and Sakura complied. Shizune looked up from a stack of paperwork. "Ah, Sakura-chan. How was your mission?"

Sakura seated himself on a chair in front of Shizune's desk. "Fine," she said. "You asked to see me, Shizune-sama?"

Shizune nodded. "Let's see," she said opening a drawer. "This came for you while you were away." She pulled out an envelope and handed it to Sakura.

The pink-haired kunoichi had to smile as she saw her name, crudely written in familiar handwriting. "Do you mind?" she asked. Shizune shook her head, and Sakura quickly opened the envelope and pulled out the letter inside. She quickly skimmed the contents. Several critical portions had been blacked out, she guessed by Jiraiya, but enough remained that the gist of the message survived.

Naruto was training hard and had learned some new techniques, but "Ero-sennin" wasn't being a very good teacher. He thought he might be able to come see her fight in the third exam - it apparently had not occurred to Naruto that she might not have gotten that far or even taken the exam at all. Another person, with much neater handwriting - Jiraiya again, Sakura thought - had added "Not going to happen; sorry," to the margin.

Sakura looked up as she stuffed Naruto's letter into a pocket of her jacket, and saw that Shizune held another envelope in her hand. "Your mother brought this by, while you were away."

"My mother?" Sakura asked, hesitatingly taking the letter. She wasn't able to stop herself from gasping when she recognized the handwriting on the envelope. "Kakashi-sensei," she breathed, her eyes watering.

"He apparently wrote it for you before he left on his mission," Shizune said gently.

Sakura slowly began to open to envelope, struggling to hold in the tears that threatened to pour down her cheeks, but at the last moment she hesitated. Somehow, it seemed to her that opening this letter would admitting to herself that Kakashi was never coming back, and she didn't know if she could do that. Not now. The envelope fell from her nerveless fingers, landing softly on her lap. "Thank you," she said quietly. "Is Gai-sensei still on his mission?"

Shizune glanced questioningly at the unopened letter, but after a moment she nodded. "He is." For an instant, Sakura entertained the morbid thought that he, too, would not return from his mission. She shook her head violently. She couldn't start thinking like that. "Are you okay?" Shizune asked, concern evident in her voice.

"I'm fine," Sakura said as she rose, grabbing Kakashi's letter to keep it from falling. "Thank you." She half-turned toward the door before remembering to ask, "Is there anything else?" The older woman shook her head, but Sakura could feel Shizune's worried gaze on her back as she left the room. As the door shut behind her, her fingers tightened around the envelope she carried. After a moment, she forced herself to relax and slip Kakashi's letter into her pocket next to Naruto's, then head on her way.

It was a sign of how distracted she was that it was almost too late when she realized that she was about to run into someone. If it wasn't for her weeks of speed training, she might not have been able to dodge out of the way in time. "I'm sorry," she said, without looking up at the other person. "Excuse me." Not pausing, she continued on her way.

Mitarashi Anko turned around slowly, watching Sakura's back recede down the hallway. "Nice to see you too, Sakura-chan," she muttered, but the special jounin's face took on an unusually thoughtful expression before she turned around again and headed for Shizune's office.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to appear over the mass of hills in the center of Hail Country when Naruto and Rui reached the site of the mission the man who had called himself Kinji had given them. It was a small, secluded cove, well-shielded from the closest road by a thick, if small, forest. A sandbar blocked most of the entrance, preventing large ships from sailing into the otherwise deep-seeming cove.

"I don't see," Naruto complained as the two settled onto a convenient large tree branch overlooking the cove, "why we have to be here so early." The mission Kinji had laid out for them was surprisingly simple. He had reason to believe that the three ninja working for the mayor would be having a meeting here with the slavers later today. Naruto and Rui needed only to capture the slavers and the enemy ninja, secure any evidence, and wait for Kinji himself to arrive and take charge of the situation.

"I don't trust this Kinji," Rui said simply. "His papers looked legitimate, but something still smells fishy about him. I want to be certain we aren't walking into an ambush." She hesitated slightly, then said, "I'll be back in a moment." Silently, she leapt to another branch, and soon vanished into the thick carpet of trees.

Naruto yawned slightly as he waited for his companion to return from her scouting. He decided to keep an eye on the entrance to the cove. If what Kinji had told them was correct, the slaver contacts would be arriving on a ship. Naruto tensed slightly as he felt movement, then relaxed as he recognized who was landing beside him on the branch. "Find anything?" he asked Rui after a moment.

The kunoichi shook her head. "Nobody around," she said simply as she settled herself besides Naruto.

It was almost two hours later when they caught sight of the slaver ship. It sailed straight into the cove, passing easily over a small gap in the sandbar. The pair of ninja watched carefully as the ship dropped anchor. "What should we do?" Naruto asked.

"It looks like there's only two," Rui pondered. "They're certainly slavers - recognize that one?" She pointed at one of the two men visible on the small ship's deck.

Naruto studied the man for a moment. "That's the one I fought before," he said. Yes, he was the one who they had briefly fought before Rui had used her technique to stop the ice replication ships. Naruto smiled grimly. He hadn't been that tough.

"There's only two," Rui stated. "We could take them out now and use the Transformation Technique to impersonate them."

Naruto's grin widened. "Sounds like a plan."

"Be careful not to damage the ship," Rui warned him, then she slowly began to form seals.

Naruto nodded, and leapt away. He began to creep through the tree around the edge of the cove. He'd let Rui make the first move, then run across the water at the boat. He moved carefully, remembering every bit of stealth training he'd ever had. He wanted to get as close as possible without tipping off the slavers.

"Hyouton: Ten Diamond Shards," Rui's soft voice intoned, somehow carrying farther than its quiet tone should. Without waiting for the ice blades to strike, Naruto charged out of the trees, not slowing as he hit the water. As he ran, Rui's attack, carefully aimed to avoid damaging the ship's rigging or sails, reached its targets. One of the two slavers was hit several times and fell, but the one Naruto had fought before used a replacement and reappeared on the surface of the water, near the side of the boat.

Naruto smiled, his hands flicking through seals. After forming the last, one of his hands dipped down, lightly touching the surface of the water and pulling away a large, pulsating globe. "Suiton: Pressure Bullet!" Naruto shouted as he released the globe.

The slaver barely had time to throw up his hands before to attack hit him. He slammed into the ship's hull, knocking his head roughly on the wood. Unconscious, he began to slip into the water, but Naruto just barely managed to reach him before he sank. With the man in his arms, the disguised boy leapt up to the ship's deck.

Waiting there was Rui, busying herself with tying up the other slaver. She looked up. "Good work," she said simply, gesturing at Naruto to put down the other man. He complied, and the kunoichi quickly bound him as well.

"That was easy," Naruto said.

"They weren't expecting trouble," Rui said simply. Then she frowned. "And they arrived much earlier than Kinji said they would."

"Maybe he was wrong?" Naruto asked.

"I don't think so," Rui said with a grimace. "I think we should expect him to arrive very soon, with those other three ninja, to arrange for the slavers to help them ambush us."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly. "What?"

"I suspect Kinji was with them all along," Rui said simply. "The whole fight yesterday was just to give them a way to lure us from the town. They likely intend to sell us to the slavers."

There was a sudden burst of applause, and both ninja looked up to see Kinji emerging from the woods on the shore. As Rui had predicted, the three ninja they had fought the day before followed after him. "Very astute, Kitakami-san," Kinji said.

Rui cursed softly, then spoke in a louder tone of voice. "The one thing I don't understand, though, is why you wasted time on this charade. Why not just try to capture us when we fought with your men before?"

"Most of what I told you is the truth," Kinji stated. "However, the bit about the mayor was a lie. If he knew his ninja were involved with the slavers, he'd try to stop us. If we captured you in town, it would be more difficult for you to disappear." He laughed. "It seems I should have arrived earlier, though."

Rui's hands formed a seal. "And because of your mistake, you will die." Her hands blurred into motion. "Hyouton: One Hundred Diamond Shards!" The storm of ice swept through the four enemy ninja, who vanished in puffs of white smoke. Rui cursed again. "Replications," she snarled.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as they swept the shoreline. Where were they? Unthinkingly, his hands formed a familiar set of seals. He could feel more chakra beginning to leak out of Jiraiya's seal, and he had to struggle for a moment to force it to stop. He ignored the sudden burning sensation on his stomach as he formed the last technique. "Shadow Replication Technique!" he shouted, forming four clones.

As one, the clones leapt into the air, landing lightly on the water and racing for the shore. A kunai took one in the chest, but even as it vanished in a puff of smoke Naruto had traced the weapon back along its flight path. The real Naruto joined his clones on the water as they quickly converged there.

The ninja who had throw the weapon broke from cover, only to be knocked into the air by a kick from a sliding clone. Another clone came in from above, delivering a powerful kick that sent the older man crashing back into the ground. He didn't rise, and Naruto looked about for another target. Rui had found and engaged another two ninja, and Naruto began to move to aid her.

Then another kunai struck one of his clones. As the replication vanished, Naruto and his remaining clones turned to see Kinji himself emerging into the open, a new dagger already in his hands. "Shadow Replication Technique," he commented. "Awfully impressive for a girl your age."

A Naruto snarled at him. "I'll show you impressive," he growled, and all three of him charged.

Kinji danced around the first replication's strike, kunai sweeping out in a wide arc that forced the clone to jump away. The second clone came at him from the other side, only to take a kick to the face. Before that replication's smoke had faded, the real Naruto was inside Kinji's guard, and his fist plunged into the man's gut. There was another puff of smoke, and Naruto cursed as the log he'd hit flew away. Where was the real Kinji?

A kunai appearing in the eye of his last clone answered that question. "No more replications left," Kinji said as he stepped out from behind the rapidly dissolving smoke the shadow replication had left behind. "Do you have any other tricks?"

Naruto was breathing heavily as he turned to face his foe. The way he was right now, making that many shadow clones had used up too much of his chakra. He wasn't certain he could do anything useful with any of his earth element techniques with what he had left. Trying not to let his tiredness show, he drew a hidden kunai and leapt at Kinji.

The two ninja met in midair, and Naruto was barely able to block Kinji's rapid strike. They recoiled from each other, and Naruto skidded as he landed, almost falling. Without conscious thought, chakra began to leak from Jiraiya's seal again, and the burning sensation on his stomach returned.

Kinji's eyes widened. "What," he began, then his eyes rolled upward as Rui struck the back of his head with the hilt of a kunai. Kinji collapsed, and Rui breathed a sigh of relief.

Then her eyes widened as she looked at Naruto. "Naruto-san?" she asked cautiously.

Naruto clutched at his stomach, and slowly the burning receded again. What was going on? He looked up again at Rui. "What?" he asked.

"Your eyes," she began, "for a moment they…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "We've got work to do," she said after a moment.

Naruto blinked. "What?" he asked.

"The slavers have been nice enough to provide us with a ship," Rui said simply. "I know enough to sail that small a ship with your help. With good winds, we can probably be on Hakuhyou Island tomorrow night."

* * *

Tsunade was procrastinating on actually starting dealing with the piles of paperwork Shizune had given her earlier in the evening when a chuunin guard knocked on her door. Eager for another excuse, she quickly pushed the stack of papers aside. "Yes?" she asked as the chuunin opened the door slightly and stuck his head into the room. "What is it?"

"Special Jounin Mitarashi Anko to see you, Hokage-sama," the chuunin stated. "Shall I send her in?"

"Of course," Tsunade stated, and moments later the kunoichi in question stood before her. "What do you need, Anko-chan?" Tsunade asked, fishing through the papers on her desk. "You shouldn't have been on the list for missions today; you're off-duty to handle the third exam."

Anko snorted. "Not that I really have to be. I've got all those cute little chuunin to do the actual work. Being the examiner for the third exam is really boring."

"I'm sure you'll get some excitement on the exam day," Tsunade said dryly. "There's usually at least one genin who decides that it'd be really impressive to try and kill his opponent."

Anko laughed. "You should have seen the Hyuuga kid last time," she said. "He pretty much dared Genma to stop him from killing the Uzumaki brat." From most other people, Tsunade might have been upset at how she referred to Naruto, but in Anko's case that was just the way she was with everyone.

Tsunade blinked. She'd heard a little of that fight from Yamanaka Inoichi, but Neji hadn't struck her as the type to try that kind of thing. "I see," she said. "So, what did you want to talk about, Anko-chan?"

Anko straightened, suddenly serious. "Is what I've heard about Hatake true?"

"Yes," Tsunade said, her eyes narrowing. "Hatake Kakashi is missing in action and presumed dead."

"Who's Sakura-chan training with?" Anko asked.

Tsunade frowned. She could guess where this conversation was leading, and it was likely to become… troublesome. "I pulled some strings to get her a little training from Yuuhi-san, but beyond that I don't really know."

"Kurenai-chan?" Anko bit at her lip slightly. "She said she's getting normal missions now, though."

"That's true," Tsunade said slowly. "Is there a point to this, Anko-chan?"

Anko nodded firmly. "Hokage-sama," she said seriously, "please assign me to a mission with Haruno Sakura. We could check up on my grandmother or something like that."

Tsunade sighed. She'd figured as much. "Anko-chan," she said, "I can't just send the examiner for the third exam on a mission with one of the participants so she can train her. That'd just create a conflict of interest."

"It's not like there's any room for me to do anything to illegally help anyone in the third exam, and it's important that all the Leaf genin put up a good show, right?" Anko pressed. "What with the Mist being there and all."

Tsunade folded her hands in front of her face. "You just want to make sure that Sakura-chan shows up your sister's students, don't you?"

Anko grinned suddenly. "A little," she admitted. "She is sort of my first student, though, and I want her to do well regardless." Her smile turned devious. "I think you do also."

"It's not appropriate for the Hokage to show favoritism," Tsunade said firmly. "You have no idea the number of complaints I'd get if it got out that the third examiner was training one of the genin in the exam."

"Can't you do something?" Anko's face took on a pleading expression.

Tsunade turned away. "How many times do I have to tell you that you should never use that face with me?" she asked.

Anko grinned again. "Sorry, Hokage-sama," she said, her voice betraying just how little weight she gave that apology.

Tsunade sighed, rubbing at her forehead. "Let me think," she said. "ANBU wants to directly recruit any promising new chuunin," she continued after a moment.

Anko nodded. "The commander mentioned that."

"I think I might be able to get it past the examination board that any likely prospects should be assigned a quick solo mission with an ANBU member before the third exam so that they can be evaluated," Tsunade said, a plan quickly coming together in her mind.

Anko quickly picked up on it. "The genin couldn't know that it was part of the examination, of course," she continued, "and I'm the ANBU it would make the most sense for Sakura-chan to go with on a mission."

Tsunade nodded. "However," she said, "for this to fly there's a catch. You'll have to get someone else in ANBU to categorize Sakura-chan as a likely prospect for ANBU recruiting. It'd be too suspicious if you did it yourself." Not that there was any chance of Sakura joining ANBU now, Tsunade knew. She didn't seem the type, and Tsunade would simply veto the posting if it came to that. Sakura wasn't going to have any time for ANBU work if she passed the exam. Tsunade did not intend to go easy in the slightest on her likely apprentice. She had less than three years to turn an unexceptional genin into someone who could take on Orochimaru and Akatsuki and stand a chance.

"Not a problem," Anko said with a grin. "That bastard Ibiki was pretty impressed by how her team took down Kurenai-chan's team. He was even talking about adopting that tactical situation for a question the next time he's on the first exam. I can probably get him to put in a word with a little work."

Tsunade blinked. "How do you and Morino-san know about that?" she asked.

Anko laughed, scratching the back of her head nervously. "I sort of bent the rules and had a snake watching them," she admitted.

Tsunade sighed. "One day, Anko-chan, you'll learn that rules exist for a reason."

Anko grinned suddenly. "You're one to talk, Tsunade-sama," she said.

Tsunade sighed. "Don't push me, Anko-chan, or I'll change my mind."

* * *

**Day Fifty-three**

Sakura was not happy to find herself back in the nearly useless genin library. When she'd been an academy student, she had dreamed of the priceless knowledge that had to be stored behind those strange, sealed doors on the level beneath the main library. She'd lost count of the number of hours since her graduation she'd spent down here, devouring as many of the scrolls and books as she could. Yet now, in the face of the goals she had set herself, the time she was spending down here felt wasted.

It seemed that the materials provided here were specifically selected to only allow the reader to learn about techniques, not learn the techniques themselves. That made sense, Sakura supposed. A genin was supposed to be learning from their family or under their jounin teacher, not trying to master techniques on their own. Still, it was highly frustrating in her situation. Despite this shortcoming, she had made her way back down here, because she could only spend so long attacking an unresisting training post before she became too tired. Besides, that sort of training was at best marginally more useful than what she was doing now.

Sakura sighed as she pushed aside the thin book she had been reading, promisingly entitled "A Novice's Introduction to Water Element Techniques." Unfortunately, the book's definition of the word novice seemed to be someone who had never even heard of ninjutsu before. Over half the book was spent on simple basics that she'd learned back in the academy, like what hand seals were most frequently used for water element techniques. There'd been barely any new information, and most of that had been of only intellectual interest to her.

Her eyes unwillingly went to the unopened envelope that had laid under the book. She couldn't say why she'd brought Kakashi's letter here, but it hadn't felt right to leave it in Naruto's apartment. It might very well have been her teacher's last words to her, and she couldn't leave it behind, even if she couldn't quite bring herself to read it either.

Somehow, she had picked up the envelope without noticing, Sakura realized as her hands began to toy with it. Her fingers made as if to open the envelope, then shrank away. Why couldn't she make herself read the letter? Why had her mother suddenly decided that she should have it?

The thought of her mother made Sakura grimace again. She still couldn't muster the courage to return to her home and confront her mother. The questions Midori's revelations had raised still preyed on her, but her desire to find answers could not triumph against her fears. Sakura sighed. She could even admit to herself that she was being a coward, but that didn't change anything. She'd been right when the ANBU had stopped her from meeting her mother before. The longer she waited, the easier it was to keep on justifying putting off her next attempt to get answers from her mother.

"Damn it," Sakura snarled, then without giving herself time to think about it she ripped open the envelope. Even if she couldn't face her mother, she could at least do this, couldn't she? Her hands shaking slightly, she unfolded the letter and began to read.

"Sakura," it began, "I have never been as good a teacher to you as I should have been. If Hokage-sama and you had not forced the issue, I would never have sought you out to train, as was my duty. I have my excuses, but they are still only excuses. My mission should conclude in time to train you for the third exam, and you have my promise that upon my return, I shall strive to be the teacher you have always deserved.

"Should I not return in time, I have one lesson for you to ponder. It is not a technique of any sort, but something much more important. To be truly strong, it is not enough to simply train and learn techniques. Power must have a purpose to become strength. You have told me you wish to become strong, so that you will not be useless, but to what use will you put your strength? What, Sakura, is your way of the ninja?

"I never said this when I should have, but you have within you the potential to be a great ninja, perhaps even one of the greatest. Always remember that, and never give up."

Sakura rubbed at her watering eyes as she looking at the familiar characters of Kakashi's signature. Then she froze, a strangely familiar sensation crawling up her spine. Kakashi's letter fell from her hands, and she quickly formed a seal. Then she vanished in a puff of smoke.

A large, gray snake hissed as it coiled around the precarious stack of books Sakura had left behind her. A far-too familiar laugh sounded. "Not bad, Sakura-chan," Mitarashi Anko said as she stepped into open view. She glanced up at the ceiling. "You can come down anytime, you know."

Sakura resisted the urge to curse at the special jounin, remembering that in less than thirty days she would be judging Sakura's matches in the third exam. As satisfying as it would be to call her an insane psychopath, that would only be counterproductive. "What do you want?" Sakura asked as she released her chakra-powered hold on the ceiling and dropped lightly to the ground.

Anko tossed her a bound mission scroll. "Orders," she said cheerfully.

Sakura carefully opened the scroll. "D-rank diplomatic mission to the Mitarashi Clan," she muttered. "Do we have to do this now?" she asked.

Anko nodded cheerfully. "Yep."

Sakura twitched. This meant that she'd probably be gone when Gai returned from his mission, and might not be back at all until just before the exam. "I see," she said flatly.

"This is the one you told me about?" a new, feminine voice said, and Sakura started.

She turned around, staring as she located the source. She pointed a shaking hand at the gray snake. "It talks?" she asked.

The snake's tongue flicked out in what Sakura somehow knew was a gesture of irritation. "Yes, I do, and I'm a 'she,' not an 'it.'"

Sakura blinked. "Sorry," she said automatically.

The snake's head turned to look at the special jounin. "Well, Anko?" she demanded.

"Yes," Anko said, "she's the one, Seseki." Sakura was quickly becoming very curious - and very concerned - about just what this conversation meant.

The snake's tongue emerged once more. "She might do," she allowed after a moment, "but it's going to take a lot of fast talking to get Manda-sama to agree." Sakura instantly placed the name of the god that ruled all snakes. What in the world was going on?

"You just lay the groundwork, and I'll take care of the rest," Anko said.

"It would go easier if you let me take some of her blood," Seseki proposed. "I bet she tastes good."

"I am not going to," Sakura began, only to be interrupted as Anko answered.

"That's a little premature," Anko said, "but I'll get you a special sacrifice or two instead, okay?"

The snake nodded. "Deal," she said. "Can I go?"

Anko gave the snake a wave, and the gray serpent vanished in a puff of smoke. "Well, that went better than I thought it would," she commented happily.

Sakura twitched, forcing herself to breathe deeply and count to three before speaking. "Would you care to explain what the hell that was about!" she demanded. Maybe she should have counted to ten instead, she realized a moment too late.

Anko laughed, scratching at the back of her head. "I suppose I should mention that what you're holding is less of a mission scroll and more of an excuse scroll," she began.

"An excuse scroll?" Sakura asked, glancing down at the scroll in question.

"You didn't think I was going to let my first student embarrass me in the exam, did you?" Anko asked. "We're going to be training."

Sakura blinked. "Is that even legal?"

Anko scratched at her head again. "Not really," she admitted, "but I've got Tsunade-sama's permission."

"I see," Sakura said after a moment. Was it really okay for the examiner to be training her? "I still don't see what that snake has to do with anything."

"Your biggest weakness is that your chakra reserves stink." Anko grinned. "I'm going to fix that."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Explain," she said flatly.

Anko put on an obviously false offended expression. "You should be more polite to your teacher. Just for that I'll make you wait until we leave." She turned around, giving Sakura a wave goodbye. "Meet me at the gates at dawn the day after tomorrow."

"Why not tomorrow?" Sakura asked. If she was really going to be training, she didn't want to waste a day.

"I didn't know you liked my company so much," Anko said with a laugh. "We can't leave until I've let Ibiki know that he recommended you for ANBU, though." The special jounin gave another wave, then vanished.

Sakura twitched. "What!" she shouted at the empty air.

* * *

Dealing with the prisoners had proved to be the most difficult part of leaving Hakuhyou Island for Naruto and Rui. It would have been convenient to simply kill the six enemy ninja, but neither ninja had wanted to slaughter them in cold blood. At least, Naruto had loudly rejected the idea, and Rui hadn't protested. On the other hand, taking them back to the closest town would have taken a long time - particularly answering the questions that they would be asked - and likely been dangerous, given that they were strangers and four of the prisoners were apparently the mayor's men.

Ultimately, Rui had expertly bound the six prisoners and tied them to a tree near the closest road. She'd left a note explaining the situation, though it was unlikely it would accomplish much, especially since the ninja might wake before some traveler found them. Then the pair had returned to the ship and quickly readied it to sail. Within an hour, they were underway, and Rui had proved that her claims of being able to sail the ship were founded in truth.

Unsurprisingly, the ship had already held more than sufficient supplies to last the journey. The weather had been pleasant, if somewhat chillier than Naruto was used to, and the winds had been good for the course Rui had set. Now, near sunset on the day after they had left the Hail Country, they had lowered their small, stolen ship's anchor and brought the vessel to a stop.

"Well, we're here," Rui said unnecessarily as she finished gathering her things.

Naruto nodded solemnly as he stared out over the massive sheet of ice that surrounded Hakuhyou Island, faintly visible in gathering twilight. Not for the first time, he'd wished that Jiraiya had gotten him a warmer jacket from Mako for his disguise as he shivered. If he squinted, he could just barely make out a small fortress on the island, with a familiar large warship docked in front of it. Somewhere in there was Jiraiya… and Rui's grandmother.

"What are we going to do?" Naruto asked, gesturing at the ice. Not even the slaver's own maps they'd found on board their ship had shown a way through the ice field Kitakami Yuki had created to protect her fortress. Rui had guessed that her grandmother used her ice control to create new passageways when they were needed and to seal them up afterward.

"We walk," Rui said simply. "We ought to be able to reach the island before we run out of light."

"And then?" Naruto asked.

"We'll scout out the fortress," Rui said, "and try and see what we're walking into." Her eyes hardened. "My grandmother knows we're coming, after all." She paused. "Are you ready?"

Naruto forced himself not to remember that they were walking into the lair of a woman so powerful that she'd been able to force Jiraiya to surrender. He grinned at Rui, then leapt down to the surface of the water in answer to her question. "What are you waiting for?" he called back at her.

In an instant, Rui stood beside him. Her eyes swept the ice in front of them. "Don't step in any of those patches of snow," she said after a moment. "They might hide traps."

Naruto nodded seriously. "Right." The two set out at a quick walk, briefly pausing the climb on top of the ice when they reached it. It took Naruto a few minutes to adjust to walking on the slick surface, but once he got the hang of it they made good time. As they walked, Rui occasionally formed a quick sequence of seals, muttering quiet words under her breath.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked after the third time this occurred The question was something to keep his mind off of the danger they were walking into, at least.

"I'm using a technique to test the ice," Rui said. "Grandmother might have left some spots too thin to support any weight or left more clever traps."

"Ah," Naruto said. His stomach rumbled, and he wished that he'd eaten more on the ship before they'd left. He glanced up at the island. "We're almost there."

Rui nodded. "We'll have to be careful so sentries won't spot us."

Naruto gestured off to the left. "Should we swing over that way to keep our distance from the fortress?" he asked.

"Sounds good," Rui agreed, and they set off again. In the end, they weren't able to reach the shore before the sun finished setting, but the freshly risen, half-full moon cast enough light that they were able to finish their journey. They quickly found a well-hidden spot to rest for the night. "You set up camp here," Rui told Naruto. "I'll go and take a quick look at the fortress."

Naruto nodded, and by the time he'd finished setting up the small tent they'd found on board the boat Rui had returned. "What's it look like?" he asked quietly. He knew that they were far enough away tat they couldn't be heard, but it didn't feel right to talk loudly in this situation.

"Just the one building," Rui reported. "There are guards on the roof and all the entrances I spotted."

"Ninja?" Naruto inquired.

Rui shook her head. "Not any good ones, at least," she said. "We won't have a problem getting past those."

"What about the inside?" Naruto asked after a moment. "How are we even going to find Er- my uncle and your brother?"

"My grandmother will know where they are," Rui answered. She smiled grimly. "She said to come here if we lived. I don't think we'll have any trouble finding her."

* * *

**Day Fifty-four**

The sun had just began to rise when Naruto and Rui began their attack. Rui's scouting the previous evening had revealed that the easiest access point to Yuki's fortress was the roof. While the guards on the entrances were likely to be easily defeated, it was another matter entirely to get past them without alerting the entire fortress. While still not trivial by any stretch of the imagination, it seemed much simpler to sneak past the rooftop sentries, each of whom had to guard a stretch of wall, rather than a single entryway.

The pair of ninja circled around to come at the fortress from the landward side, the most weakly defended. They reached the foot of the stone wall without any trouble. Rui had timed the movement of the guards above perfectly, and when they ran up the wall they emerged directly on top of the only guard looking in their direction. A single violent blow from Naruto knocked the slaver unconscious before he could react.

Rui's hands flickered through seals and she muttered under her breath, activating a prepared genjutsu. "Let's hurry," she whispered to Naruto.

The disguised boy nodded. Rui had explained the technique to him in advance. It was very weak, designed to make the targets uninterested in whatever it was hiding, but not actually changing what they saw. Depending on how observant or strong-willed the other rooftop guards were, it might only buy them a handful of seconds.

However, they had chosen their attack point well. A half-open door not far away promised entrance into the fortress, and no alarm followed the pair as they slipped through it. Inside, they found a set of poorly lit stairs spiraling down. "How far down should we go?" Naruto asked.

Rui shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "Let's see what we find." With that, she set off down the stairs, and Naruto followed. The door at the first landing they came to was tightly shut, and a quick test showed that it was locked. Wordlessly, they continued their descent.

The next door seemed to take forever to arrive, but Naruto knew it was only his nerves getting to him. When they finally reached the door, they never had a chance to test it. Even as Naruto was reaching for the handle, the door flung open, revealing a burly man with a poorly-trimmed beard. Nobody moved. "You're -" the man began.

He was interrupted by Rui's foot plunging into his stomach. He flew back through the door, hitting the opposite wall with a solid thunk. He slumped to the ground, and did not rise. Rui and Naruto stood still, waiting to hear if some alarm would be raised. After several, nerve-wracking instants, the worst occurred

"Hey!" a male voice shouted. "Genma, what happened?" There was the sound of footsteps.

Rui cursed, and Naruto slammed the door shut. "Let's move," his companion snapped, racing down the stairs. Naruto followed after her. Even as they reached the next landing, they could hear the sound of pursuit behind them. The door here was not locked, and Naruto opened it quickly. He and Rui ducked inside, barring the door behind them.

Knowing that wouldn't hold their pursuers for long, they raced down the hallway the found themselves in. "Where should we go?" Naruto said, glancing at the shut doors they were passing.

"I don't know," Rui said, taking a quick turn down another hallway, then freezing. Naruto followed, almost slamming into her back.

"Why'd you stop?" Naruto asked, but he figured out the answer soon enough. They stood in front of a set of double doors. On each door was engraved the same emblem that Kitakami Yuki's forehead protector had borne. Naruto swallowed nervously. "Do you think," he began, only to be cut off as somewhere alarm bells began to ring loudly.

Rui nodded. "It seems like we're in luck," she said quietly, softly pushing one of the doors open.

It revealed a large, luxurious room. A throne stood on a raised dais on the opposite side of the room. Standing in front of the throne on the dais was a tall, skinny man with dark hair, snapping orders at a quartet of slavers below. Naruto swallowed. He didn't recognize the man, but he did recognize the armored jacket of a Leaf ninja he wore open over his black clothing. Naruto could see his forehead protector but not make out what symbol it carried. It wasn't hard to guess, though.

The man looked up, smiling as he saw the two ninja in the doorway. "On second thought," he said dryly, "there's no need to organize search parties." The four slavers below slowly turned around to face Naruto and Rui. "Kitakami Rui and the cross-dresser Naru, I presume," the man on the dais continued. Naruto grimaced at the description. How did he know?

Rui stepped forward. "Where is Kitakami Yuki?" she demanded. "I am here to deal with her, not her minions." Naruto carefully moved away from her. Sticking close together only made it easier for both of them to be caught in one attack, after all. He began to draw up his chakra, preparing for the battle he was certain was about to begin.

"Saeko," the slaver's leader said after a moment. "Go ahead and inform Yuki-sama her guests have arrived."

One of the other four nodded her head. "Yes, Tsuneo-sama." She formed a seal and vanished in a puff of smoke.

"If you want to face Yuki-sama," Tsuneo continued, "you will have to prove yourself worthy."

Rui smiled dangerously, her hands flickering through seals. "Hyouton: One Hundred Diamond Shards," she said as though in answer. Glittering ice blades materialized out of the air around her, and with another seal she sent them flying at the four slavers.

Under cover of her attack, Naruto charged, his hands forming a familiar sequence of seals. "Shadow Replication Technique!" he shouted, creating two clones on either side of him.

One slaver fell, a shard of Rui's ice embedded in his gut. The other two weathered the ice storm, preparing themselves to meet Naruto's charge. One Naruto slid at the closest slaver, kicking up at him. The slaver danced back, only to take a kunai Rui threw in the side. He stumbled over the dais and fell. All five Naruto converged on the last slaver beside Tsuneo, who had drawn a kunai.

The slaver slashed one clone with his kunai. It vanished in a puff of smoke, and the unexpected lack of resistance made the man stumble. Another Naruto took advantage of this, grabbing the man and hurling him at a wall. He hit the stone wall head on, and didn't rise. Naruto glanced about, confirming that the other two slavers hadn't recovered.

On the dais, Tsuneo chuckled. "That was pointless," he said as he descended. "I was about to send them away." A hand flicked out, and shuriken filled the air, disrupting Naruto's clones. The real Naruto only suffered a minor scratch in the arm.

"Why?" Rui asked as she neared.

Naruto backed away from Tsuneo, moving slightly closer to Rui. He could now tell that it was indeed a Leaf forehead protector the man wore, though a two jagged scratches formed an "x" over the Leaf's emblem. Something nagged at Naruto's mind, something familiar about the man's face.

Tsuneo smiled at Rui. "Saeko was the only one of them who was even genin-level, really. Beating these three doesn't prove that you're worthy of Yuki-sama's time." He yawned. "It's me you'll have to beat."

"Very well," Rui stated, her hands inching up to form a seal. Then she froze. Her hands twitched, but she wasn't able to force them together. "What!"

Naruto tensed, glancing down and seeing the thick, dark shadow that bound Rui to Tsuneo. "Shadow Imitation Technique," he breathed. That was what was familiar about the man. He looked a little like Shikamaru.

Tsuneo raised an eyebrow. "Surprising that you recognize the technique. Are you from the Leaf originally, perhaps?" His shadow branched, a tendril racing toward Naruto.

The disguised boy leapt away, his mind racing through his options. He landed lightly, jumping away again before Tsuneo's racing shadow could reach him. His hands flicked through seals. "Shadow Replication Technique!" he shouted, and another four clones appeared in midair around him. Each Naruto drew a kunai and hurled it in one smooth motion at the slaver.

Tsuneo's hands raced through seals, which Rui helplessly aped. "Shadow Interception Technique," he breathed. The shadow that had been chasing Naruto somehow raised itself up off the ground, becoming something physical. It split into five branches, each flailing tentacle snaring one of Naruto's weapons and knocking it to the ground. Then the shadow collapsed, retracting back toward Tsuneo.

As he landed, Naruto briefly noted that the shadow that bound Rui seemed thinner and lighter, but though she was obviously struggling the kunoichi still could not move. Naruto had no time to think on her situation though. He sent his replications to charge at Tsuneo as his hands formed another set of seals.

Tsuneo snarled as the clones neared. "You think mere replications are going to beat me?" he asked as his hands filled with shuriken. With a shout, he loosed them all. Once again, Naruto's clones were all destroyed by the storm of steel.

This had bought Naruto enough time to finish his technique though, and both of his hands were pressed to the cold stone floor. "Doton: Grasping Hand Technique!" he growled. A rock hand grew out of the floor, reaching hungrily for Tsuneo.

The Leaf missing ninja's hands blurred as he took in a deep breath. "Katon: Fireball Technique!" The massive burst of fire hit the palm of the stone hand. The hand shattered, leaving only a stump behind, which soon melted back into the floor. "You're not going to beat me like that," he commented as he looked at the disguised boy.

"He won't have to," Rui said, and Tsuneo's eyes widened as he turned to look at the kunoichi. She stood much farther away than before, well out of reach of Tsuneo's shadow.

"How?" Tsuneo snarled.

Naruto, breathing heavily as he rose from his kneeling posture, laughed. "That technique makes two hands," he said. "I used the other one to pick her up while you were distracted." He took a step forward, but nearly collapsed. He'd used up all the chakra he had available now, he realized.

Tsuneo's eyes narrowed. "Clever boy," he snarled, "but I still only have one foe, it seems." His shadow raced out toward Rui again.

The kunoichi danced out of the way easily. "The same technique won't work on me twice," she stated as her hands made seals. "Hyouton: One Hundred Diamond Shards!" Countless ice blades pierced Tsuneo, who screamed before disappearing in a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, it revealed the now-ruined throne.

Tsuneo was kneeling where the throne had stood. A bloody scratch on his arm showed that he had not gotten away unscathed. "I suppose not," he said, "but I'm not so easily defeated either." He reached into a pocket of his jacket, pulling out an explosive tag. He slowly, deliberately, began to wrap it around the hilt of a kunai.

Rui's hands raced through seals, but not quickly enough. Tsuneo threw his weapon at her, and she aborted her technique, forming another set of seals in mere instants. "Hyouton: Crystal Ice Mirror!" she shouted. A sheet of ice stopped the kunai in mid-flight, but this wasn't enough to defeat Tsuneo's attack. The tag exploded, and the force of the explosion sent Rui flying away. She landed roughly, and though she stirred she was not able to regain her feet.

Tsuneo laughed. "It seems you two weren't worthy of Yuki-sama's time after all," he announced. "I suppose I can kill you before she arrives." Groaning, Naruto forced himself to form a seal. Tsuneo laughed again. "You're out of chakra, cross-dresser. What are you going to do?"

Naruto closed his eyes. It didn't seem like he had a choice. Relaxing a tension he'd barely realized existed, he loosed all restraint on the seal Jiraiya had made to contain his chakra. Power flooded through him, and the spiral seal on his stomach burned fiercely. The pain increased until Naruto was about to scream, then vanished instantly. His eyes snapped open.

Tsuneo took a step back. "What are you?" he asked, a hint of fear in his voice.

Red chakra flickered around Naruto, and he could feel the makeup that obscured the whisker-like markings on his face burning off as the lines thickened and darkened. He didn't answer Tsuneo's question, instead forming a familiar set of seals. "Shadow Replication Technique," he breathed, forming a single clone.

Tsuneo's eyes widened. "You're," he began as chakra began to gather in the real Naruto's hand, guided by the clone.

Away from the confrontation, Rui had managed to half-rise. "Naruto-san," she breathed.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Tsuneo snarled. "What are you doing here, demon?"

The shadow clone vanished in a puff of smoke. There was a blur of motion, and the real Naruto was suddenly inside Tsuneo's guard. The slaver stumbled backward, but not quickly enough to dodge Naruto's attack. "Rasengan!"

* * *

Jiraiya offered a silent prayer of thanks that Yuki was not in her chambers when he first heard the alarm bells. There was no doubt in his mind that this was what he had been waiting for. Even if it wasn't actually Naruto and Rui, it was a distraction he could use to break Ichizo out and escape, hopefully without attracting that Akatsuki member's attention. He wished he knew where the Akatsuki and Yuki were right now, but he was not planning to let this opportunity pass just because he didn't have all the information he would like.

His hands blurred as he used a genjutsu cloaking technique, then headed out of Yuki's opulent suite. Once again, the guards outside the doors failed to note his passing. It would have taken a miracle for them to penetrate his genjutsu, so Jiraiya was not surprised. He rolled his eyes at the poorly told dirty story one of the guards was reciting - did the two talk of nothing else? Shaking his head, he headed for the closest stairwell, which he knew from his earlier explorations would take him where he needed to go.

By the time he reached the dungeon level, his keen senses could tell that there was a fight going on elsewhere in the fortress. Just barely, he could feel the familiar pulse of Naruto's chakra, weakened and distorted by the seals he had made, and Jiraiya smiled. That was one weight off his shoulders. Thankfully he couldn't feel either the Akatsuki member or Yuki's chakra just yet. With luck, he'd be able to meet up with Naruto before that occurred

The Toad Hermit dropped his genjutsu as he walked into the prison complex. For what he wanted to do, stealth was beside the point now. The guards started as he boldly walked into sight. The closest waved a spear in his general direction. "Hey, you shouldn't be here," he said. "Go back to Yuki-sama's chambers like a good little boy and I won't tell her you went where you shouldn't have."

Jiraiya snorted, his hands forming a quick sequence of seals. "And who are you to tell me where I should or shouldn't go?" he asked. The guard froze, then toppled over, unconscious. Jiraiya wasn't able to resist another snort. For a slaver, that man had been awfully weak-willed to faint from a simple application of the Hell-Viewing Technique.

The other guards reacted predictably, grabbing whatever weapons they had and charging at Jiraiya. Rolling his eyes, Jiraiya formed another sequence of seals. He'd start off with a quick fire element technique to weed out the weaklings, then take care of the rest using taijutsu, he decided. Best to save as much chakra as he could for fighting Yuki, if it came to that.

It took the legendary ninja only a minute to dispatch his foes, and he made his way over to the large communal cells that held the non-ninja prisoners. He casually broke the lock on each door, then turned to address the excited crowds. "Things might be getting a little messy around here," he said. "If you can't fight, I suggest you wait here until I come back for you."

Without waiting to see what they did, he headed down to the smaller individual cells, where Ichizo was waiting impatiently for him. The younger man shook his head as Jiraiya approached. "I can't believe you're actually doing this, Jiro-san," he said lightly as Jiraiya opened the door to his cell.

"Your sister and my niece have arrived," Jiraiya said simply. "Now it's time to deal with Yuki." As much as he might like otherwise, he didn't think that they'd be able to escape without defeating her. Ichizo stepped out of his cell, walking over to a fallen guard and taking the dead man's katana. He gave a few experimental swings. "I wish I could find my sword," he commented.

"I'm afraid it sunk with your ship, Grandson," Kitakami Yuki said as she stepped out of a cloud of chill mist that suddenly appeared between the two ninja and the exit.

Ichizo's eyes narrowed as he fell into a fighting stance. "You," he snarled.

Yuki ignored him, he cold eyes focusing on Jiraiya. "I'm disappointed in you, Jiraiya-san," she commented. "I came to find you so we could watch the cross-dresser together and you could explain to me why he's interesting, but you weren't in your room. Instead I find you abusing my hospitality like this."

Ichizo didn't seem to notice the name that Yuki called his rescuer. "Die!" he shouted as he charged her.

Yuki sidestepped his first blow, casually delivering an open-handed strike to his chest. Ichizo doubled over, gasping for breath. As he tried to recover, Yuki swept him off his feet with a swift kick. Her hand darted out, grabbing him by the neck before he could fall. "You," she said flatly, "are a pathetic disgrace to the name we share. If you trouble me again, I will kill you." She tossed the young man aside, stepping forward to face Jiraiya. "Now, where were we?"

Chakra gathered in Jiraiya's open hand. "I believe I was about to kill you," he stated. "There's no troublesome observer this time." He smiled, but his eyes were hard.

Yuki smiled to match him. "True," she said. "We never did finish our fight, did we?" Mist gathered around her, the temperature in the narrow hallway where they stood dropping rapidly. Her hands formed a single seal. "Shall we resume where we left off?"

Then the building shook. "Naruto," Jiraiya breathed softly as he felt the sudden surge of malicious power. The chakra spinning in his hand died away.

Yuki's eyes widened. "This chakra," she began, but she didn't seem to be able to find the words to follow for a long moment. Then she grinned. "It isn't human, is it?" Her eyes were alight. "You've brought me a very interesting gift, Jiraiya. I forgive you now." Her hands broke the seal the were holding and formed another. "Come and watch me play with him," she said. The mist surrounding her thickened briefly, and when it faded away she was gone.

Jiraiya stepped forward, quickly checking on Ichizo. The young man was unconscious but still alive, thankfully. Then Jiraiya began to curse fluently. There was no way that the Akatsuki member hadn't felt that. Still mouthing an unending string of vulgarities, he raced for the stairs.

* * *

Nara Tsuneo's body had barely hit the wall when Naruto began to scream again, clutching at his stomach. The crimson chakra that flickered around him vanished as quickly as it had arrived. He stumbled forward several steps, then collapsed. For a few long moments, it seemed like he would stand, but he ultimately lay unmoving on the chill stone.

Across the throne room, Kitakami Rui managed to rise, shaking off the aftereffects of the explosion that had flung her there. She too stumbled as she took her first steps, but soon she was running smoothly to where Naruto lay. "Naruto-san!" she exclaimed as she knelt over him, relief in her voice as she discovered that the boy was still breathing.

Then a sudden chill descended. Rui looked up to see her grandmother, cloaked in mist, standing in the center of the room, near the ruined throne Tsuneo had used for the Replacement Technique. Her cold gaze swept the room as the mist vanished. "Disappointing," she said. "He manages to kill Tsuneo, but he can't even stand afterward. This cross-dresser bores me already."

Rui rose, forcing herself to show no sign of her fear. "Grandmother," she said flatly. "I came as you asked."

Yuki smiled. "Ah, yes. You should prove more entertaining than your brother, at least. Since you survived my test, I should offer you the chance to serve and learn from me, as I had planned. You show much promise and potential."

Rui's hands began to form seals. "I have sworn to kill you. It is the reason I was granted this power." Her hands settled on a final seal. "Hyouton: One Hundred Diamond Shards."

Yuki waved a hand, and the blades of ice shattered into harmless slivers even as they formed. "That didn't work on me before," she said. "Why should it work on me now?"

Rui didn't respond, forming more seals. Two clones appeared, one on either side of her. As one, the trio charged, though one hung slightly back, forming seals as it moved.

Yuki's eyes narrowed as she made her own seals. "Replications, huh?" she asked. "Hyouton: Snow Storm Swallows." Elegant birds of ice appeared around her, delicate wings flapping as they flew at the oncoming trio. One hit the Rui in back in the neck, and that Rui dissolved into smoke. The other two managed to dodge their way through the birds, but the ice creatures began to swing around to attack the pair again.

One Rui jumped into the air, rapidly making seals. "Hyouton: One Hundred Diamond Shards!" she shouted, sending her ice blades to pierce Yuki's birds.

Yuki stepped forward, casually disrupting the other Rui - the second replication - with a single strike. "You can't defeat me like this," she commented as Rui landed. Her hands casually formed seals. "Hyouton: Ice Cage Technique."

Thin pillars of ice appeared around Rui. She quickly tried to slip in between them, but horizontal bars grew swiftly, connecting the pillars. Cursing Rui jumped, but a roof of solid ice appeared before she could clear the walls. As she landed again, he hands began to form a seal.

Yuki sighed. "Do you think my technique is so easily defeated?" she asked, forming a seal of her own. Pale blue energy ran down the bars of the ice cage, and Rui froze as she felt the chakra she was gathering fade away. "I will decide what to do with you when I am done inspecting the boy," Yuki said. "Be a good girl, and wait for me." She slowly began to walk toward the still-unmoving Naruto.

The doors to the throne room flung open. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait for that," Jiraiya said as he stepped into the room. "I'm your opponent, Yuki."

"Jiro-san!" Rui shouted. "You can't -"

"Yes, I can, girl," Jiraiya said. "Trust me." He smiled slightly, and chakra began to gather in his outstretched hand. "Well, Yuki?"

Yuki slowly turned to face the Toad Hermit. "You try my patience, Jiraiya," she said. Rui's eyes widened slightly as she heard that name. "That's very dangerous for you," Yuki finished.

Jiraiya smirked. "I'm not afraid of Tsunade, Yuki. Your threats are nothing."

"Is that so?" Yuki asked, annoyance in her voice. "I'm afraid you should be frightened."

"Oh?" Jiraiya asked.

Yuki smiled dangerously, raising one hand to her mouth. "We didn't spend our time the way we did just for fun, Jiraiya. I knew that I would need a hold on you, and it gave me the chance to provide one." Her hand brushed her lips, and she blew a kiss at Jiraiya. "Hyouton: Kiss of the Snow Maiden."

Jiraiya stiffened, then fell to his knees, gasping for breath. "What," he began weakly.

Yuki laughed. "I'm freezing your chakra circulatory system. I'm afraid you won't be moving again until I'm good and ready for you." She turned her back on the Toad Hermit, who slowly fell over onto his side. Yuki rapidly walked up to Naruto picking the boy up with one hand. His eyes opened, and Yuki stared into the flat, lifeless blue orbs. Frowning, she studied him for a moment, then with her other hand unzipped his jacket and lifted his shirt. Then she nodded. "I thought as much," she commented as she let his shirt drop.

"Naruto-san!" Rui shouted, grabbing the bars of her cage and futilely trying to push them apart.

Jiraiya struggled just as hopelessly to rise. "Don't, Yuki," he said weakly.

Yuki only laughed, putting Naruto down. The boy stood unsteadily, not reacting as Yuki lifted his shirt again. Chakra gathered in her other hand. "Five Element Unseal," she declared as she thrust her hand on top of the black spiral seal on Naruto's stomach. The boy stumbled backward, and for an instant the seal glowed a fiery red. Yuki smiled. "Now you should be more interesting," she said as she waited for some change.

She wasn't disappointed. Naruto's eyes widened, life returning to them for the barest of instants before they turned crimson and inhuman. The markings on his face darkened again, his hands twitching as his fingernails lengthened and thickened into claws. Naruto snarled, baring suddenly sharp and pointed teeth. A murderous pulse of crimson chakra burst out from him.

Yuki stumbled backward, momentarily startled by the force of Naruto's chakra. "Such power," she breathed. "This should be fun."

Then as suddenly as it had expanded, the red chakra fell back, gathering tightly around Naruto's body. Panic managed to give Jiraiya the strength to half-rise. "Naruto!" he shouted. The boy was beyond hearing, snarling as the red chakra formed a shroud over his entire body. Another inhuman growl escaped his throat as he fell to all fours. The demonic chakra formed ears over his head as a long crimson tail sprouted from his rear.

Yuki jumped away, her hands forming seals as she frowned. "This could be troublesome," she said. "Maybe I should have listened to you, Jiraiya." As though in answer, Naruto moved, swiping at the air with one arm. A claw of chakra extended from his hand, growing rapidly as it raced through the air toward Yuki, who frowned again. "Hyouton: Crystal Ice Mirror!" she shouted, forming a large sheet of ice in front of the chakra claw.

The ice shattered, the shards melting from the heat of the chakra. Naruto vanished in a blur of motion, reappearing almost on top of Yuki. One hand clawed at her face. Yuki blocked the strike, but an arm of pure chakra came from another direction, moving independently of Naruto's attack and catching her in the side. Yuki flew away, slamming into a stone wall.

When the dust settled, Yuki was still standing, but her white kimono was smeared with crimson where Naruto had hit her. She clutched at the bloody wound in her side, and she staggered as she stepped forward. "It seems I did make a mistake," she said. Hey eyes glanced at Jiraiya. "My belated thanks for the warning."

Naruto's tail lengthened, stretching out to wrap itself around one of the bars of Rui's cell. The kunoichi from Snow Country stumbled back, fear in her eyes as she watched the chakra tail wrench the ice pillar out of the cage. With a sudden flick, the tail tossed the unlikely projectile at Yuki.

Breathing heavily, Yuki threw up one hand, and the ice vanished in midair. "It seems I shouldn't play with you," she told Naruto as her other hand released her side.

Naruto stood on two legs now, his tail moving rapidly behind him. There was perhaps a little bit more intelligence in his eyes, but the low growl that came from his throat in answer to Yuki's statement belonged to an animal. His lips curled upward, once again revealing a mouth of fangs.

Yuki's hands blurred, forming a lengthy sequence of seals. "I'll finish this in one strike," she commented. "Hyouton: Dragon of Winter." A long, serpentine form appeared coiled around her, made of shining, almost fragile seeming ice. Its eyes flicked open, pools of blue energy that glowed with power. The ice dragon's very presence chilled the room dramatically, dropping the temperature in the massive hall below freezing in an instant. It roared at Naruto, cold mist escaping its mouth.

As one, the dragon and Naruto moved. The dragon uncoiled itself from around Yuki, somehow flying through the air at Naruto. The boy jumped at the oncoming dragon, holding out one hand. The shroud of crimson chakra twisted and distorted over his palm, and as the dragon opened its mouth for another roar, Naruto made his first human sound of the battle. "Rasengan!"

There was a massive explosion as the two collided in mid-air. Red chakra and freezing mist swirled about them, blocking their struggle from sight. The battle seemed to last forever, but in reality could have lasted no more than a handful of seconds. The sound of shattering ice filled the air, and slowly the storm of power died away, revealing the victor.

Naruto stood on all fours once more, but now two tails of chakra flailed through the air behind him. The malevolent aura that surrounded him was thicker, making it hard to see the human face behind it. Power poured off of his body, a murderous intent so powerful that even Yuki shuddered under it. The fortress seemed to shake, unable to contain the force that was growing at its heart.

"Jiraiya," Yuki breathed. "If I release you, will you help me fight him?"

Before Jiraiya could answer, Naruto shook. His eyes widened, turning their natural blue once more. After a final pulse of power that seemed like it would make the room around them collapse, the crimson aura faded away, leaving only an ordinary-seeming boy behind. Naruto fell to the ground, and did not rise.

Yuki let out a laugh as she felt at the wound on her side once more. "That was fun," she said cheerfully, all her fear forgotten. "I thank you for the gift, Jiraiya. He's a bit too dangerous, though, so I think I'll kill him now."

"I won't let you do that," Kitakami Rui said as she stepped forward, standing protectively over Naruto's still form.

Yuki glanced at the still-standing ice cage, sighing as she saw the gap Naruto's tail had opened. "Foolish little girl. Even after that, I'm not someone you can defeat. Don't make me kill you too. It would be a waste of your potential."

"We shall see," Rui stated. Her hands formed a short sequence of seals, then separated. "Hyouton: Crystal Ice Blade," she intoned. A katana of ice formed in one of her hands. It seemed to shine with some inner light as Rui's other hand passed along its side and she fell into a fighting stance.

Yuki laughed. "An interesting technique. Is it an original?"

Moving faster than ever before, Rui charged, suddenly appearing next to her grandmother. "No," she said shortly as she struck at Yuki's wounded side. The ice sword scored a minor slice down Yuki's arm as the older kunoichi danced away.

Yuki struck out with her other arm, catching Rui with an palm strike that sent her stumbling back. Winded, the young girl fell to her knees, forced to use the sword to keep herself from falling entirely. "How futile," Yuki said, laughing again.

Rui smiled grimly. "It served its purpose," she said. "Your blood on this blade is all I needed."

"What?" Yuki asked, her eyes widening.

"I told you before," Rui said, "that I was given this power to kill you." Now she laughed, as one hand found a crimson patch on the side of her ice sword and began to smear the blood down the blade. "Who do you think gave it to me?"

"Impossible," Yuki breathed. "They wouldn't -"

"They would," Rui said. She plunged the bloody blade into the stone floor, then formed a rapid sequence of seals. "Summoning Technique!"

Once again, the temperature plummeted and a chill mist filled the room. A young-seeming, strangely ethereal woman stepped out of the mist, and Yuki stumbled away form her. "No!" Yuki shouted. "Not now!"

The other woman stepped forward. Like Yuki, her long hair was silver, but there was something ancient and inhuman in her face. Mist draped around her, obscuring her form. Her eyes opened, revealing pools of bright blue much like the eyes of the dragon Yuki had created. "The contract is fulfilled," she stated. "You are delivered into our hands, Betrayer, and are too weak to resist us." One elegant hand flicked out, and large spears of ice sprung into existence, slamming into Yuki and pinning her to a wall.

Jiraiya found that he could move again, and he slowly rose. So this was how Rui was able to create ice so easily. She must have somehow convinced the snow maidens to reforge the contract that Yuki had broken and grant her the support they had once given the Hidden Snow… and in return, Yuki was going to die. Jiraiya was almost sad, remembering the girl he had met in the Snow Country so long ago, but when he thought of what Yuki had become, he felt only relief.

Clutching at the ice that pierced her stomach, Yuki groaned. "No, you can't," she began, but she wasn't able to finish the sentence.

"You will die," the snow maiden said, no emotion in her frozen voice.

There was a puff of smoke, and a man appeared between the snow maiden and Yuki. He wore a black and red cloak, and a bamboo hat obscured his face. "That won't happen, hmm," he said lightly. Jiraiya stiffened, and in an instant moved to stand next to Rui between the man and Naruto.

The snow maiden somehow seemed confused, though no expression formed on her too-delicate face. "Punishment will be exacted," she said.

"So it will," the Akatsuki member replied calmly. "If you let me take her, she will ripped apart piece by piece, every part of her replaced by my partner's art. She will never be allowed to die, existing forever in eternal pain and darkness."

Yuki's eyes widened. "No, please," she breathed.

The snow maiden seemed to consider the man's words, then nodded. "That is acceptable." The man bowed in reply, taking a step back toward Yuki. "We will know if the punishment is not carried out," she stated.

"Of course," the Akatsuki member said as he waved a hand in front of Yuki's face. Her eyes widened briefly, then closed as unconsciousness took her. "She won't be causing any problems now, hmm," the man commented, then he gently began to pull out the shards of ice pinning Yuki to the wall.

The snow maiden's unnatural gaze sought out Rui. "The contract is fulfilled, Avenger," she said, and then she vanished as suddenly she had came.

The Akatsuki member slung Yuki's still form over one shoulder and turned to face Jiraiya. "Yuki was foolish to hide you from me, hmm," he said. "Had she been truthful, I might have spared her and made you my present to my partner instead."

"You'll find I'm no easy prey," Jiraiya said, chakra spinning once more in his hand.

"I've no need to fight you now," the Akatsuki member said. "The Kyuubi's not my target, hmm. Itachi-san and Kisame-san will be… pleased to hear of you, though." He waved slightly. "I suspect we won't meet again." He and Yuki vanished in a massive cloud of smoke.

As the smoke faded, Rui began to laugh, tears streaming down her face. "It's over," she said slowly, as though she wasn't able to believe her own words. "It's finally over."

Jiraiya rested a hand briefly on her shoulder. "So it is," he said simply, and then he turned to inspect Naruto.

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings

1) See? This time I didn't lie when I said that Akatsuki would strike! Well, not entirely. Less so than last time, anyway.

2) This chapter wound up a lot bigger than I was expecting. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised though - quite a bit happens in it when I really think about it.

3) I suppose this chapter makes it clear that I have started reading the current manga. I'm still not planning to match up the events of this story with it, though, and canon for this story remains the anime through Episode 141 and nothing else. I tried to make the elements I included from Part 2 of the manga as spoiler-free as possible, and I hope I succeeded.

4) As is ever the case, I welcome and appreciate all comments on my story, so please review! It's worth noting that if you haven't made your predictions for the third exam for the pseudo-contest I started back in the author's notes for Chapter 6, nobody's gotten the exact results yet, so you can still win the possibly non-existent prize!

5) Thanks go to the Eternal Lost Lurker for his comments on the draft, and thanks go to Eimii for clearing up my confusion regarding the appropriate prefix for lightning element techniques, which will help me very much over the next few chapters.

6) Next time in One Hundred Days Chapter 9, Finding Your Way: Jiraiya and Naruto's journey to the Lightning Country resumes, and Anko teaches Sakura some things she probably shouldn't.

Draft Started: March 02, 2006  
Draft Finished: March 26, 2006  
Draft Released: March 28, 2006  
Final Released: March 29, 2006


	10. Chapter 9: Finding Your Way

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 9: Finding Your Way

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, snakes. Snakes… on a plane.

* * *

**Day ?**

Naruto awoke. For long moment, he didn't open his eyes, simply lying in the warm water he found himself floating in, waiting for the pounding in his head to subside. He might have luxuriated in the warmth, welcome after so many days in the chill of the quickly descending northern winter, but the water was a touch too warm for comfort and stank of some unnatural foulness. Groaning and channeling chakra reflexively to keep himself from sinking, Naruto opened his eyes and sat up.

Dark walls loomed on either side of him, some strange mold growing between the cracks between the stones. Dim, sickly sunlight filtered in from somewhere overhead, unable to penetrate the murky water Naruto sat on. The air was warm and humid, and periodically a hot, dank wind blew past him.

With another groan, Naruto forced himself to stand, then his eyes widened, and his hand went to the back of his neck. The familiar strangeness of the long, dyed hair that was part of his disguise was gone. He glanced down carefully, and saw that he was wearing his favorite orange clothing. The closest copy of those clothes, he knew, was hanging in his closet at home in the Leaf Village. Jiraiya had destroyed the ones he'd brought with him back at Hojo's estate in Earth Country.

Rubbing at his forehead, Naruto tried to gather his scattered thoughts. He'd been fighting that missing ninja who looked a little like Shikamaru, hadn't he? He'd gotten that bastard good with a Rasengan after he'd let all his chakra loose, though. Then… he'd fought that Yuki lady, Rui's grandmother. His memories were hazy and indistinct, but he remembered that much. What had happened?

Naruto glanced around. Where was he, for that matter? There was something oddly familiar about this place, like he'd been here before. Yet he couldn't quite place the half-memory. The hot wind blew on his face, and Naruto began to walk toward it. That was as good a direction as any and perhaps more likely to lead him to some answers. Pausing at a dark intersection, he waited for the next burst of wind before turning and proceeding.

As he neared, the wind grew warmer and wetter, and a dull roaring began to sound in his ears. The pounding in his head beat in sympathy with the roar, and Naruto's progress slowed. A sinking feeling in his gut, he realized that it wasn't wind he was following to its source. It was breath, and it carried a familiar, inhuman scent. Steeling himself, Naruto continued to advance, even when the heavy breath became strong enough to almost knock him off his feet.

The narrow passageway opened up into a large chamber. Massive steel bars blocked further progress in this direction. Beyond them, the chamber was cloaked in oppressive darkness, but two crimson, gargantuan eyes swam out of the gloom to stare down at Naruto's tiny form.

The genin's eyes widened as the memories of the times he'd stood before in this place came flooding back to him. "You're," he breathed, only to be interrupted by loud, rumbling laughter.

"Are you grateful?" an impossibly deep voice asked, filled with pure malice. The sheer force of the words pushed Naruto back, but he did not fall.

"Grateful?" he asked. "To you? Why would I be?"

The Kyuubi laughed again, the red orbs that were the only visible part of it alight with some inner fire. "Is it not the way of humans," it said, saying the word 'humans' in a way that left no doubt as to its hatred of the species, "to be grateful to one who saves their pathetic lives?"

"I guess," Naruto said dubiously, "but I'll never be grateful to you!"

"I have freely granted you gifts that some would willingly sacrifice entire nations for," the Kyuubi said. "This is how you would repay me?" It laughed again.

"Shut up, you damn fox," Naruto muttered, turning away from the cage. "I don't want anything to do with you. I just want out of here." The Kyuubi's mocking laughter followed him out of the chamber as he retraced his steps, its foul breath blowing at his back.

Yet as he stalked down the corridor, despite the fact that he never turned down any of the side passages, eventually the hot breath was coming from in front of him. For a moment, he entertained the horrifying idea that there were two demonic foxes sealed inside him, but he discarded that unserious thought as he walked back into the same hall, staring up at the same pair of massive eyes. Wordlessly, he turned around again, ignoring the Kyuubi's amused eyes following his every move.

Once more he raced out of the chamber, and this time he turned down the first side passage he found. His rapid steps kicking up foul water, he concentrated on his path, straining his senses for any sign of the genjutsu that had to be confounding him and twisting his path. He never found any, but still he emerged before the bars of the Kyuubi's cage.

This time, the demon spoke as he entered. "Pathetic human," it said, "you'll never get out that way." The fox pressed its face against the bars, and Naruto was able to see its reddish fur and its giant, white fangs. A drop of saliva fell from its mouth, hissing and steaming as it landed on Naruto's side of the barrier with a loud splash. The foul water bubbled briefly.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked cautiously, backing away from the cage.

The Kyuubi laughed again, and answered, delight and menace in its voice. "The only way out," it said slowly, savoring each word, "is through."

There was the stench of something burning, and for the first time Naruto's eyes sought out the large tag with the character for "seal" on it, hanging high overhead on the gate. He wasn't able to stop himself from swallowing nervously as he saw the red and black flames that briefly caressed the edges of the paper. He recoiled and, hating his terror, ran, and once more the Kyuubi's mocking laughter followed him.

* * *

**Day Fifty-five**

The forests that surrounded the Hidden Village of the Leaf, reborn from the destruction of war to shelter the newly founded village almost a century ago by the First Hokage's unique wood element ninjutsu, were a great help to the ninja of the Hidden Leaf. The woods were a protective barrier, able to be turned into a death trap in a thousand ways by the techniques the ninja of what had once been the Wood Country had brought to the village. In the worst scenario, the deadly fire element techniques that were the village's specialty could turn the forest into a blazing inferno, a suicide move that would insure that no army survived destroying the Leaf.

Yet the woods also held dangers to the ninja of the Leaf. Besides the occasional problems with dangerous animals, the woods were almost impossible to patrol well. The sections closest to the village, the few well-traveled paths that lead to the gates - those could be patrolled with relative ease. Yet the remainder of the thick forest held countless hiding places, hidden clearings where perhaps no human foot had tread since the First Hokage himself had made his sacrificial pilgrimage to restore what his final battle had destroyed. No matter how hard they searched, how many of their already over-stretched ninja they dedicated to the task, the Leaf could not find and guard them all.

In one such dark clearing, chosen well by the Hidden Mist's spies and scouts, Yakushi Kabuto waited with his hand-picked ninja. Three four-man squads, the maximum the Mist had allowed, were present. Nine of them, low-ranking jounin, wore the standard gray uniform of the Hidden Sound. Two more, squad leaders, instead wore the black armored jacket that Orochimaru granted only to the Sound's informal, rough equivalent to the Leaf's ANBU or the Mist's hunter ninja squads. Kabuto himself, playing the role of third squad leader and overall commander, wore that same jacket for this mission, to best present a professional appearance for their new allies.

All of the ninja he had picked to accompany him were well-chosen, though it had taken some reshuffling of squads to avoid bringing any former Mist ninja along. Every ninja was a veteran of the Sound's prior attack on the Leaf Village. That failed venture had weeded out the weakest from the Sound's numbers and in the aftermath the disloyal and fearful had fled, leaving only a hardened, solid core behind. While Orochimaru had easily refilled his ranks with missing ninja and mercenaries longing to enjoy the support of a hidden village, none of those desperate recruits had yet enjoyed a chance to prove themselves worthy of this mission, even with the recent skirmishes with the Valley.

One of the squad leaders, the only kunoichi on the mission and a former Valley ninja, approached Kabuto, bowing slightly. "Yakushi-sama," she murmured softly.

Kabuto looked up from the map he had been studying. "Yes, Koyanagi-san?" he asked.

The woman straightened, idly brushing a tendril of her unkempt brown hair back behind an ear. "Company approaching."

Kabuto rose, setting the map aside and adjusting his glasses. "The Mist or the Leaf?" The other Sound ninja stirred, save for the scout that had just reported to the kunoichi.

"Mist," the former Valley ninja answered. "A hunter ninja." There was an undercurrent of hostility in her voice, and Kabuto was not surprised. Missing ninja, regardless of their original village, shared a certain odd kinship, and there would be no love lost between any of them and a hunter ninja from any village.

"Well," Kabuto responded, "it's nice that we didn't have to wait long, even though we're a little early." He smiled. "Perhaps I should put on some tea for our guest."

"That won't be necessary," a soft voice came from overhead. Kabuto glanced up at the branch that hung over the campsite just in time to see the black-clad kunoichi that stood there jump down to stand before him. "You are Yakushi Kabuto?" she asked.

Kabuto nodded as he studied the flat hunter ninja mask she wore. From his reading of the painted markings that described her rank, she was experienced but hardly elite. "How may I address you?" he asked.

"Hunter will suffice, Yakushi-san," the kunoichi replied. "Do your forces require supplies?"

"No," Kabuto stated with a quick shake of his head. "We brought some, and the woods will supply the rest, Hunter-san." For a moment, he idly wondered how the woman would react if he called her Hunter-chan, but he decided that it was not worth experimenting just now.

"Very well," the Mist ninja said. A scroll appeared in her hands, and Kabuto took it after a moment. "Memorize and destroy that scroll. You will find your squads' assigned mission within."

"Of course," Kabuto murmured, quickly unrolling the scroll and scanning it. He almost snorted. His squads were being wasted on a pointless task that would do no harm if it failed, as he expected. The Mist feared a betrayal and sought to minimize their exposure. No matter. It served his purposes well enough. Two squads could easily handle the job, leaving his own squad to accomplish what Orochimaru wished to have done.

"You will be contacted again next week," the hunter ninja said. "I am to remind you to remain in position and to avoid any conflict with the Leaf." It took Kabuto much effort to keep from rolling his eyes. How stupid did the Mist think they were? "Have you any questions?"

Kabuto lightly tossed the scroll into the small fire his ninja had made. "None," he stated simply.

The hunter ninja nodded once, then disappeared in a blur of motion.

* * *

Unlike the last time she had met Mitarashi Anko at the gates, Sakura arrived on time for the meeting. Actually, she was a little early, but the special jounin was already waiting for her, leaning against the smooth village wall. With a sigh, she pushed herself away from the wall. "At least Hatake didn't teach you all his bad habits," Anko said in greeting.

Sakura's heart sank as she realized that the last time she had seen her teacher - probably the last time she would see her teacher - was when she had left with Anko on the mission to the Mitarashi Clan weeks ago. She tried not to let the disconcerting realization show in her voice as she murmured, "Good morning, Mitarashi-sensei." It was best to be polite, after all.

Some of her distress must have shown, as Anko's expression softened. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan," she said, giving the genin a forced smile. "I bet when we get back Hatake will be waiting for us with another one of those lousy excuses of his."

Anko, Sakura decided, was not very good at being comforting. Adjusting the straps on her backpack momentarily, she stepped toward the open gates. "What are we waiting for?" she asked.

Sighing, Anko took the lead, barking "Hokage's orders," at one of the guards when the chuunin asked her why she was leaving when she should be preparing to administer the third exam. Once the thick forest had hidden the gates from sight, Anko's pace slowed as she let out a whoop of slightly maniacal laughter. "Tsunade-sama's not going to be able to catch us now," she gloated.

Sakura rolled her eyes behind the jounin's back. "I thought you said you had Hokage-sama's permission."

Anko glanced back at her student, grinning widely. "I lied," she said cheerfully. "I don't think she'll declare us missing ninja and send ANBU after us for at least a week or two, though." Her grin widened. "Don't worry if she does, though. Taking out an ANBU hunter ninja squad solo is good training for the exams."

Sakura twitched. "You're insane," she said flatly.

"Got the shrink's reports to prove it," Anko confirmed merrily.

"You're also lying," Sakura continued.

Anko applauded. "Smart girl," she said approvingly. "What gave me away?"

"I checked with Shizune-sama yesterday to make sure Hokage-sama had approved this insanity," Sakura replied. She certainly wasn't going to complain about getting a dedicated teacher for these last weeks before the exam - as much as she might wish for a less psychotic one - but having the examiner for the third exam training one of the fighters was completely ludicrous.

Anko pouted. "You don't trust me?"

"Does anyone?" Sakura replied dryly.

For an instant, Anko almost looked honestly hurt. Then she was smiling again. "There's a sucker born every minute," she replied. "Not even I work that fast." She leapt up to a convenient tree branch, gesturing at Sakura to follow before jumping across to another tree.

"Not for lack of trying," Sakura murmured to herself as she complied. Several minutes later, they had put a good amount of distance between themselves and the village, and Sakura realized that they were heading north. "Shouldn't we be going the other way?" she asked Anko when the older woman paused to take a swig from her water bottle.

The special jounin wiped at her mouth, offering the bottle to Sakura, who shook her head. "Why would we go south?" Anko asked.

"Aren't we supposed to be visiting your grandmother?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, that," Anko replied. "I told you that's just an excuse. I sent a letter to Grandmother and she'll confirm that we visited her in secret, just like the official mission told us to. We wouldn't be able to get the training done if we actually went there."

Sakura blinked. "You won't be teaching me more of your family techniques, then?" she asked.

Anko shook her head. "The next technique, Shadow Smoke Evasion, is really just a fancy combination of the Replacement Technique and the Body Flicker Technique unless you go all out and start learning Fire Dragon Fist Style."

Sakura blinked. "Fire Dragon Fist Style?"

Anko formed a quick sequence of seals. When her hands separated, they were briefly wreathed in flames. "Family taijutsu style utilizing fire element ninjutsu," Anko explained. "I don't like it much. The family techniques are designed to have good, what's it called, synergy with it, but it still burns through too much chakra too quickly."

"I see," Sakura replied.

"Besides," Anko said, "it's not very compatible with Strong Fist Style." She grinned. "Tell me, does Maito force you to wear that ridiculous jumpsuit?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, thank the gods." He had given her another copy of that monstrosity of fashion soon after she'd started training with him and his students, but he hadn't pressed her when she'd kept wearing her own clothing.

Anko grinned. "Maybe he still remembers what I did to him when he tried to make me wear it."

"You studied under Gai-sensei?" Sakura asked, blinking. That was a difficult combination to imagine.

"Maito was giving out lessons to anyone he could guilt into it when he was first trying to formalize the style," Anko replied. "I took a couple before I decided it wasn't for me. I'm just not a taijutsu-type."

"Ah," Sakura said. "What will you be teaching me, then?"

Anko grinned at her. "What do you know about summoning?"

Sakura took a breath, closing her eyes as she thought back to the academy lectures. "Summoning comes in two main forms, releasing items that are sealed into scrolls or actual summoning of spirits, usually animal spirits," she recited. "Spirit summoning usually requires a permanent blood contract with the spirit or spirits or a temporary scroll prepared by a ninja with such a contract."

"Good girl," Anko said. "Iruka-kun must be very proud of you."

"I don't really need item summoning," Sakura said after a moment. "I'm not a weapons expert like Tenten-san. Spirit summoning requires a lot of chakra, though." More than she would have for a long time, Sakura expected.

"Exactly," Anko said cheerfully. "I told you I was going to fix your low chakra reserves, girl. When… my teacher taught me spirit summoning between the second and third exams, I nearly doubled my chakra reserves. Pushing your limits is the only way to increase them."

Sakura nodded after a moment, forcing herself not inquire after Anko's odd hesitation. The matter of Anko's teacher still wasn't any of her business. "Can I see the summoning scrolls?" Sakura asked curiously. She'd always wanted a close look at some of those.

Anko shook her head. "We're not going to waste time with those," she said. "They're too limited, and they require way too much chakra. You'll never get that much this quickly."

Sakura blinked. "You have a blood contract with some snakes," she said slowly after a moment. She'd seen Anko summon a large snake back during their mission, and she must have summoned that Seseki creature in the genin library. Sakura wasn't thrilled with the idea of summoning snakes - it put her too much in mind of Orochimaru - but she couldn't deny that it might be useful.

"With all the snakes," Anko said, grinning. "From Manda-sama on down."

"You have a contract with the entire snake spirit court?" Sakura asked, aghast. "But that type of contract is only held by legendary ninja like Hokage-sama!"

"Hey," Anko protested. "I'm sort of legendary! A whole generation of Leaf ninja is growing up scared of me!" Her face fell slightly. "It's more accurate, though, to say that I know where the snake contract is. It's not exactly mobile."

Sakura blinked at that. "I see."

Anko sighed and jumped to the next tree branch. "Let's move," she said shortly.

Sakura followed. "Is something wrong?"

"I should probably warn you," Anko said, "that we should watch out for Sound ninja when we get close to the shrine where the contract is kept."

"Sound ninja?" Sakura asked. "Why?"

Anko gave her a brief glance. "Didn't you see Orochimaru in the Forest of Death?" she asked. "Who else do you think knows where the snake contract is?"

* * *

**Day Fifty-six**

The aftermath of Yuki's defeat had been predictably chaotic. Most of the remaining slavers, demoralized, hadn't even posed a threat to prisoners Jiraiya had freed, much less to any of the ninja, and had been easily dealt with. The sailors among the former prisoners were presently refitting and equipping Yuki's massive warship to sail to the Hail Country. Kitakami Ichizo was out on the rapidly melting ice barrier surrounding the island, using his ice element techniques to make sure a safe passage would be ready when they sailed later in the morning.

Kitakami Rui, on the other hand, had hardly left Yuki's former suite, which Jiraiya had secured to serve as Naruto's sickroom - for his protection and, if necessary, the protection of others as well. "You know," Jiraiya said as he entered the room that had recently been his, returning from a brief excursion to check on the progress with the ship, "I will tell you if there's any change, Rui-san. You don't have to wait here all day long."

Rui shifted uncomfortably as Jiraiya seated himself on a chair next to her own. "I owe him," she said after a moment, "and it's not like there's much else I could be doing."

Jiraiya pushed the bedcovers aside and studied Naruto for several seconds, not for the first time wishing he had a Hyuuga's eyes. The Fourth Hokage's spiral seal was clearly visible on Naruto's bare stomach, supposedly a clear sign that Naruto was channeling large amounts of chakra, but there were no external signs. "You could," Jiraiya commented to Rui, "help your brother with the ice."

An odd expression passed over Rui's face. "You wouldn't know, would you?"

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow as he placed one hand over Naruto's stomach, carefully channeling chakra along, but not into, the seal. "Know what?" he asked carefully, putting what he judged to be the precisely proper amount of curiosity in his voice.

"The contract I signed with the snow maidens," Rui said, sighing slightly. "They granted me more support than they'd ever given a single ninja before, but that power came with a price."

Jiraiya was, despite what both of his genin teammates, his teacher, and most of his students would have said, an extremely smart person. It did not take him much effort to figure out what that price was. "You can't use ice element techniques, can you?" he asked. Now he kept his voice sympathetic, but without the slightest trace of pity.

"Not anymore," Rui said quietly. Jiraiya risked placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, and the kunoichi stiffened under his touch. Though she tried to hide the motion, Jiraiya's trained senses easily saw her hand sneaking to the hilt of a hidden kunai.

Jiraiya carefully removed his hand. "Is something wrong?"

An ordinary person would not have been able to see Rui's slight tremor, nor the hint of fear that flashed across her face. "Please don't touch me," she stated softly.

It didn't take Jiraiya long to figure out what the problem was, and he sighed, rubbing at his forehead. For what seemed like the thousandth time, he cursed the people responsible for that absurd "Tale of the Sannin." "I don't… well, actually, I do know what you've read about me," he said after a moment. "I assure you, though, that while I do enjoy looking, I never touch - like that, at least - without permission." His mouth twitched into a slight smile. "I don't know what the writer of the 'Tale of the Sannin' was thinking, really. The only thing more absurd than believing that I could force myself on Tsunade, even if I wanted to, is believing that Orochimaru would care in the slightest about it."

After a moment, Rui nodded. "I'm sorry," she said. "You've shown me nothing but kindness." She laughed slightly, clearly forcing it at least a little. "It's odd to hear names like Tsunade or Orochimaru spoken like they're real people."

Jiraiya grimaced. "I wish Orochimaru wasn't real," he said. "It'd make my life a lot easier." Most of his attention returned to Naruto's still body. Just like the last time, there didn't seem to be any sign that he would wake soon. Jiraiya didn't like the idea of trying to re-establish the seals he'd made before without Hojo's aid, and he wasn't certain that Naruto's chakra circulatory system could handle the strain of another Five Element Seal just now. Biting at his lip in thought, he pulled out a blank scroll and opened it on his lap.

"What are you doing?" Rui asked after a moment.

"Planning," Jiraiya said as he began to write fluidly across the scroll. Rui gazed curiously at the strange characters for a moment, but clearly didn't understand what he was doing. "So, what are your plans?" Jiraiya asked as he worked.

Rui looked away, gazing thoughtfully at the stone wall across the room. "Ichizo and I will head back to the Snow Country," she said after a moment. "We'll tell the clan elders that Yuki is dead, and they'll summon the other clan heads. We'll probably wind up trying to negotiate a new contract with the snow maidens, and maybe in a decade or so there will be a Hidden Village of Snow again." She sighed. "It still doesn't seem real to me."

"I wish you luck, then," Jiraiya said, pausing as he considered the next characters to write.

"Jiraiya-sama," Rui said after a brief moment of silence. "What precisely is Naruto-san?"

Jiraiya sighed, placing his brush back in a small bottle of ink. "When Naruto was born," he said slowly, "the Leaf Village's Fourth Hokage sealed the demon fox Kyuubi inside of him to stop the demon's rampages." It wasn't like Rui wouldn't have been able to figure that out herself with a little research, given what she'd already seen.

Rui nodded, as if indeed she had already suspected the answer. "That's why you were afraid that man would take him," she stated. There wasn't any need to ask to whom she referred.

Jiraiya pondered how much to say. "That man is part of an organization called Akatsuki," he said after a moment. "They are extremely dangerous and capturing Naruto is one of their aims."

"The Itachi-san and Kisame-san he mentioned," Rui pressed after a moment. "Do you think they will attack soon?"

"Perhaps," Jiraiya said. "If they do, stay out of the way, and have your brother do the same. Even the way you were before, that fight would be out of your league." He laughed ruefully. "It'd be a little challenging for me to," he commented.

"That strong?" Rui asked, eyes widening.

"They're both probably a bit stronger than Yuki," Jiraiya confirmed after a moment. He paused. "Have you ever heard of Uchiha Itachi?"

Rui's brow furrowed in thought. "The Uchiha… are a clan of the Hidden Leaf. They're famous for some doujutsu, right?"

Jiraiya nodded. "It'd be more accurate to say that they were a clan of the Hidden Leaf." The storyteller's impulse in him made Jiraiya pause for dramatic effect. "A few years back, Uchiha Itachi murdered them all." There wasn't any need to complicate the story with the matter of Sasuke. He sighed. "His partner is Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the former Seven Swordsmen of the Mist."

It was painfully easy to read Rui's mingled fear and disbelief. "You have dangerous enemies," she said after a moment. "I see why you weren't afraid to fight my grandmother."

Jiraiya laughed slightly. "Well, a little challenge helps make my old age exciting," he commented, but then his face and voice turned serious. "Don't worry about them, Rui-san. They aren't your problem, and you don't owe Naruto or me that sort of debt. We'll part ways in the Hail Country, and you can go home and enjoy the peace you've earned."

After a long moment, Rui nodded slowly.

* * *

The Swamp Country, these past few weeks, had been engulfed in political turmoil. While not hated, Daimyo Chichiatsu - the highest noble in the small country, though in a great power like the Fire Country he would have been only a minor vassal - was not precisely well-liked either. His now-deceased brother had not been without supporters in his quest to eliminate the daimyo and his daughter, placing himself on the throne. A rather ruthless purge of those supporters had been ongoing since the daimyo's brother's mysterious death in the aftermath of the latest failed assassination attempt. Strangely, a number of native ninja clans had abandoned the daimyo and joined the seemingly-doomed rebels, a matter causing no end of speculation among the lesser nobility who were racing to assure the daimyo of their loyalty.

Under these circumstances, it was not surprising that Daimyo Chichiatsu kept the halls of his palace well-patrolled. In particular, the wing containing the private chambers of the daimyo and his daughter were under heavy guard, and every guard squad held at least one member with some ninja training. The daimyo had no illusions that just because his brother was dead the danger had passed. In fact, to some well-informed people, it seemed as though he considered himself to be in more danger than ever.

The visit of the four-man Leaf squad to confirm the death of Hatake Kakashi in defense of the daimyo had been tense, but it was over. The Leaf ninja had examined the body, agreed that it was indeed the famous copy ninja's, and accepted the daimyo's generous bonus payment for the family of the fallen hero. The question on many's lips, though, was why the daimyo had not arranged to hire additional Leaf ninja to replace his previous guard, despite his obvious fear for his life. The guard captains had speculated that the Leaf ninja had taken a contract with the rebels and quietly doubled the guard on the daimyo and his daughter's chambers prior to the visit.

Though that visit was some days past, that order had not yet been rescinded, and there were therefore plenty of guards able to hear when the princess suddenly screamed in the middle of the night. In a matter of mere seconds, her bed chambers were flooded with armed men, searching diligently for any threat. This only caused the girl to scream again, shrinking back in fear from her own guards.

Once the room had been confirmed to be clear of any threat, the squad leader approached the bed. "Is something wrong, Princess?" he asked, keeping his voice carefully respectful.

The young woman sniffled. "I had a nightmare," she said tearfully. "I want to see daddy."

It took an iron will for the squad captain not to sigh. The princess was already engaged to a foreign daimyo's second son, yet like always, she was acting like a girl of less than half her age - and not a particularly bright one at that. Before the squad leader could respond, the door to the hallway opened briefly, making all the guards tense until they saw a familiar face.

"Chichiatsu-sama heard screaming and wants to know what's going on," the newly arrived guard stated.

The squad leader turned away from the bed. "The Princess has had a bad dream and would like to see her honored father," he replied, rolling his eyes since the girl couldn't see them.

"I want my daddy!" the princess shouted.

The messenger nodded once and left, returning moments later with the daimyo himself. "There are no intruders?" he asked the squad leader quietly. When the guard shook his head, the daimyo nodded back at him. "You and your men can go back to your posts, then," he said as he walked over to his daughter's bed.

He seated himself next to his daughter, and the guards filed out of the room quietly. The princess flung her arms around her father, sobbing "Daddy!"

"There, there," Chichiatsu said comfortingly as he pat the girl gently on her back. "Daddy's here. What's wrong, sweetie?"

The princess managed to stop the flow of tears running down her face. "I had a horrible dream," she said quietly, "that those bad ninja had come and killed you."

"Don't worry, honey," the daimyo replied. "I told you before, we don't have to worry about the Cloud anymore. They work for me now."

"What if they change their mind?" his daughter pressed.

"They won't," the daimyo said. "I'm paying them a lot more than the rebels could, and I helped them capture a very bad man and take him away to prison," he continued. "We're friends now."

The girl tensed slightly. "What if the bad man has friends?" she asked nervously. "Won't they want revenge?"

"That's why I'm hiring the Cloud," Chichiatsu replied. "The ninja escorting the prisoner must have reached the Cloud Village weeks ago, and the ninja assigned to protect us should arrive any day now. We won't have anything to fear from the Leaf." He smiled down at his daughter. "See, honey? I have everything taken care of."

"I guess you do," the princess said quietly, disentangling herself from her father.

The daimyo frowned. "Sweetie?" he asked.

He didn't even have a chance to scream. In one smooth motion, his daughter pulled a kunai out from underneath her pillow and attacked, killing her father with one perfect strike. The daimyo's startled corpse fell across the princess, who sat still for several long moments before pushing the body aside with shaking hands. She stared down at the blood that covered her and the bed and let out a quiet, nervous laugh. "I'm glad I don't have to clean this up," she said in a tone completely unlike herself, bringing her hands together into a single seal. "Release!" Then she collapsed, unconscious.

About a mile away, hidden in a stand of trees, Yamanaka Ino's body coughed and sputtered as she awoke. In an instant, her teacher and teammates were crowded around her. "Ino, are you okay?" Shikamaru asked.

Ino nodded. "No problems," she said softly, but she wasn't able to keep her body from shuddering. "Between our observations and my technique, I was able to play the role perfectly."

Asuma studied his female student for a moment. He didn't have a cigarette lit, a pinprick of light being too dangerous when sneaking a comatose kunoichi out of a well-guarded palace. "Report," he said after a moment.

Ino forced herself to nod as she managed to stop her shaking. "I have good news and bad news," she said, keeping her voice light. "The good news is that Kakashi-sensei's alive."

Chouji's eyes lit up. "That's wonderful."

"And the bad news?" Shikamaru asked dryly.

"He's a prisoner," Ino stated. "The daimyo confirmed everything we suspected. He sold Kakashi-sensei out to the Cloud in return for the death of his brother and the Cloud's support. He also hired the Cloud to protect him from us, and those ninja should arrive in the near future."

Asuma nodded, standing. "You three stay here," he said darkly. "If that's the case, I should pay this Daimyo Chichiatsu a little visit tonight. Did you dispose of the kunai we left you properly?" he asked Ino, clearly wanting to be certain that no alarm would be raised.

"You… could say that," Ino said weakly.

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "Ino!" he gasped.

Asuma glanced at the chuunin, then back at Ino. The kunoichi nodded stiffly. "Your visit won't be necessary. I heard Hokage-sama's orders. I saw the opportunity; I took it."

A pained expression passed briefly on the jounin's face, but Chouji spoke first. "Are you okay, Ino?" he asked softly.

She nodded again. "I'll be fine." She stood. "We should get moving, so we won't be anywhere near here when those Cloud ninja arrive."

* * *

**Day Fifty-seven**

Unlike her first journey together with Sakura, Anko had set a rapid pace, barely stopping to eat and sleep. They'd kept away from most roads, heading into the still-vast wilderness that had once given the Wood Country its name. They'd spent the previous night in a small hunters' encampment by a narrow river, but that had been the only real human contact the two had experienced since setting out on their journey. That had been uncomfortable for Sakura - clearly the hunters had not seen any women for some time, though thankfully none of them had been stupid enough to try anything with the pair of kunoichi.

That had been preferable to the previous night alone with Anko, though. Sakura remembered well their previous journey together and the insane pleasure Anko had taken in depositing snakes of various kinds on Sakura's body, both to wake her and just to pass the time. Yet the special jounin had not tried any such thing yet, and Sakura had been certain that she was being lulled into a false sense of security. However, against all expectations, Anko still did nothing.

The older woman was acting unusually subdued in general, actually. Sakura only had to remind herself that it wasn't a good idea to try and kill her teacher a few times a day, instead of several times an hour. Sakura sighed as she stared at Anko's back as she followed the special jounin's lead through the thick forest. Was something wrong?

Anko glanced back at her student, and her words echoed Sakura's thoughts. "Something wrong, Sakura-chan?" she asked cheerfully.

The genin blinked. "Yes," she said dryly after a moment. "Shouldn't you have tried to sneak at least a dozen snakes on to me by now?"

"I didn't think you would miss that," Anko said, laughing. "I thought you hated it when I did that."

"That's not what I meant." Sakura grimaced. "You're not acting like last time."

Anko rubbed at the back of her neck. "You've got a nasty habit of killing snakes when I do that," she said after a moment. "We're going to be asking Manda-sama a pretty big favor, and there's no need to do anything that might upset him."

Sakura frowned. "Are there… any sort of restrictions I'm going to have to agree to?" she asked after a moment. "If I sign the contract, I mean."

"Nothing important, unless you're in the habit of eating snake eggs," Anko said. "Theoretically, if the snake spirit court was ever attacked, Manda-sama would be able to summon you to defend it, but that sort of thing hasn't happened in centuries."

"I see," Sakura said after a moment.

"The other reason we're not having as much fun," Anko continued suddenly, "is that I don't want to waste any time. We don't have a whole lot of days to play with here, and it's going to take a lot of practice before your chakra reserves start to improve."

"Ah," Sakura replied. "How much farther do we have to travel?"

"Not long," Anko answered. "We should reach the shrine this afternoon if we're fast." She took a step forward, then froze. She trembled, one hand clutching at her shoulder. "Oh, fuck!" she exclaimed, real fear in her voice.

Sakura blinked. "Mitarashi-sensei?" she asked. The special jounin sank to her knees, reciting a long list of angry vulgarities. Sakura approached nervously. "Mitarashi-sensei?" she repeated, reaching out to her teacher. "Are you hurt?"

Anko slapped her arm away. "Don't touch me!" she snarled, her other hand clutching even harder at her shoulder.

Sakura slowly backed away. What in the world was going on? After a few more moments, Anko took several deep breaths and rose. "Mitarashi-sensei?" she ventured.

Anko let out another breath, finally releasing her shoulder. "Sorry about that, Sakura-chan," was all she said. Then she turned around, smiling cheerfully. "I've had a great new idea," she said. "We're going to turn around, head back the way we came, and then I'll see just how good you are at that Strong Fist junk Maito's been teaching you."

Sakura had never been a stupid girl, and she decided that questioning the seemingly bizarre decision would be both futile and ill-advised. "All right," she said carefully, glancing around for any sign that they were being watched. Something was clearly very, very wrong. Were there Sound ninja about?

Anko's grin widened until it seemed almost painfully forced. "Good girl," she said. "I'll race you back to that last clearing." There was a sudden wind, kicking up a small storm of leaves, and Anko was gone.

Sakura frowned and began to run. Her eyes widened as she felt a monstrous burst of chakra. She glanced backward. Either someone strong was almost on top of her, or there was something inhumanly powerful at work a few miles in the direction they'd been traveling. Either way, she didn't want to be anywhere near it, and she increased her speed.

Much to her surprise, she reached the clearing before Anko. Had she misunderstood where Anko wanted her to go? Moments before Sakura would have left to search the surrounding area, Anko walked into the clearing, her face grim. "Mitarashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed. "Where were you? What was that chakra?"

Anko opened her mouth, but didn't say anything for a moment. Then she forced a grin onto her face. "Sorry, Sakura-chan. I got lost."

Sakura glared at her. "You aren't Kakashi-sensei," she said harshly. She didn't want to think about that right now.

"Nope," Anko said cheerfully, clapping her hands. "Now, let's get to work. No time to waste." She glanced at the orange leg warmers Sakura was wearing. "Those don't really match the red jacket," Anko commented.

Sakura grimaced. She agreed, but it had gotten too cold for the lighter green jacket she'd been wearing, and the only other jacket she'd had available was the red one she taken from her home. "If we don't have any time to waste," she said, "surely you have better things to do than comment on my fashion sense."

Anko nodded shortly. "Did Maito give you back those weights he made me find for him?" she asked.

Sakura shook her head. "A new pair," she answered. "Twice as heavy," he said.

"You're a little bit faster than you were with the old weights the last time we trained together," Anko said after a moment. "That's good." She straightened into a fighting stance, and gestured at Sakura, grinning again. "Come."

Sakura tensed. Channeling chakra to move faster than she otherwise could, she disappeared in a blur of motion, reappearing an instant later inside Anko's guard. She kicked up rapidly, sandaled foot connecting with the special jounin's jaw. There was a puff of smoke, and a large log flew up into the air. The real Anko came at Sakura from above, and the pink-haired kunoichi fell over backwards to avoid the jounin's attack.

Anko backed away. "You shouldn't have left yourself open like that," she stated as Sakura rose.

"Sorry," Sakura responded. "I'm too used to sparring with Lee-san." The log Anko had used for the Replacement Technique fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"Maito isn't trying to teach you Lotus, is he?" Anko asked dubiously.

Sakura shook her head. "Just the Leaf Shadow Dance."

"That's only half of a move," Anko said. "It's what you do with it that's important."

Sakura smiled slightly. "I have some ideas," she said.

"Let's see them, then." Anko assumed a fighting stance once more. "You'll have to get me in position first, though."

Sakura's hands flicked through seals. She didn't have to abide by Lee's restrictions now, and she was going to need every advantage she could get. "Perfect Replication Technique," she declared, and soon five Sakura stared at the jounin.

"Making things more interesting, are you?" Anko asked, licking her lips. "I suppose I can reciprocate." She raced through a very familiar set of seals. "Shadow Replication Technique." Five Anko faced the line of Sakura. "Shall we begin?" one Anko asked. In unison, Sakura and her fake replications charged.

Hours later, an exhausted Sakura used the last of her energy to climb into her bedroll. She knew that she was going to have a number of fresh bruises in the morning, but it had been worth it. Still, just before sleep took her, the pink-haired kunoichi realized that Anko never had explained why she'd been delayed or what that terrible chakra had been.

* * *

The inn that Jiraiya and the two Kitakami had chosen upon their arrival in the Hail Country was much nicer than the cheap establishment Naruto and Rui had stayed in before. For one, they were in a somewhat larger city than the town where the two younger ninja had searched for a way to Hakuhyou Island. More importantly, though, money was no longer an issue. Even setting aside his not-inconsiderable personal resources, Jiraiya had thoughtfully taken a moment to loot the rather well-stocked hidden safe in Yuki's suite before their departure the previous morning.

The older Kitakami had left early this morning to seek out a ship back to the Snow Country, leaving his sister behind with the two Leaf ninja. Jiraiya wasn't terribly surprised by this. Ichizo had been terribly uncomfortable in his presence ever since he'd learned that "Jiro-san" was actually one of the legendary Sannin, and only slightly less discomfited by his sister's presence. Rui, on the other hand, had barely left Naruto's side.

Jiraiya idly wondered whether the young kunoichi had a crush on his unconscious student. They were of like age, after all, and had spent a lot of time alone together. Jiraiya studied Rui for a moment. Probably not, he decided, but he also determined that the character inspired by her in his next book would develop an infatuation with the handsome young ninja who helped her avenge her village.

Rui glanced at the older ninja, noticing his scrutiny. "Is something wrong, Jiraiya-sama?" she asked.

Jiraiya shook his head. "Just thinking," he said, before he returned his attention to Naruto. There still hadn't been any change in his condition. Jiraiya worried that he might have no choice but to conduct another sealing, which at this point was far too likely to kill either himself or Naruto. The slim but not impossible chance that it would simply shatter the Fourth's seal and unleash the Kyuubi made even those outcomes seem acceptable. It was best to wait until they'd reached the Cloud Village if it came to that, so that he would at least have expert help available.

Until then, he didn't have much choice but to wait and observe. If he was lucky, perhaps this time Naruto would come out of the coma on his own. Jiraiya frowned as he laid his hands on Naruto's stomach. When they got back home, he was going to sit Tsunade down and force her to teach him some medical ninjutsu. He knew a few basics, of course, but nothing that might help in this situation. Letting out a quiet sigh, Jiraiya carefully ran his chakra along the seal, probing for any weakness.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Rui asked suddenly.

Jiraiya glanced up, pulling his hands away. "Are you an expert medical ninja?" he asked.

Rui shook her head. "Back home, there's a healer who is… who claims to be a medical ninja on par with the legendary Tsunade," she said after a moment. "He would almost certainly be willing to help, when we report how you and Naruto-san aided us."

Jiraiya shook his head. "The Snow Country is too far out of our way." With Akatsuki on his trail, he didn't want to be making any unnecessary trips. Rui opened her mouth, only to freeze as there was a sudden knock on the door to the room. Jiraiya rose before Rui could do anything. "I'll get it," he said, walking swiftly over to the door. A quick look in the peephole showed him only a young woman who he didn't recognize, and he didn't feel any sort of killing intent. Slowly, he unlocked and opened the door a crack, still cautiously probing for any sign of an ambush.

"Jiraiya-sama?" the young woman asked carefully.

Jiraiya tensed. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm not an enemy," she stated. Slowly and carefully, she pulled a forehead protector out of her pocket, turning it around to show Jiraiya the unmarred Leaf emblem on it. "My name is Nara Saeko." She slipped the forehead protector back into her pocket.

Jiraiya instinctively checked his shadow. "You don't look like a Nara," he said softly, glancing at the woman's light brown hair and bright blue eyes. She was a lot better looking than most Nara women, in any case.

Saeko flushed slightly. "I'm a Nara by marriage," she stated after a moment.

"Why did you contact me?" Jiraiya asked after a moment. A Leaf agent shouldn't be stupid enough to just walk up in the open like this, even if Tsunade was trying to get in touch with him for some reason.

Saeko glanced over Jiraiya's shoulder at Rui. The young kunoichi was watching Naruto worriedly, but clearly keeping an ear on the conversation. "Can we talk about that in private?" Saeko asked.

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed. "Rui-san is trustworthy," he said. He wasn't certain that he trusted this Saeko enough to let her separate him from Naruto just yet.

The woman just nodded. "As you say, Jiraiya-sama." She closed her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath, then leaning over to whisper in Jiraiya's ear. "There's a man in a red and black cloak asking after you in this city. I contacted you directly because I thought you would want to know as soon as possible."

Jiraiya cursed softly. "Akatsuki," he said as though the word were another curse. Rui started, glancing up at this. Jiraiya didn't pay any attention to her. "Where is he?" he asked Saeko.

"In the marketplace," the woman answered. "Unless he's moved, of course."

That wasn't far, Jiraiya knew. He couldn't afford to not take a look at him. He had to know what he was dealing with. "Rui," he said harshly.

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama?"

"Look after Naruto," he said. He didn't like this, but he couldn't in good conscience send Rui to confront Akatsuki while he stayed behind. "I'm going to place some seals around the room that'll slow any intruder down enough that I can get here."

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama," Rui repeated, one hand going to the hilt of a hidden weapon. Jiraiya nodded once, then quickly arranged the wards he had promised to create.

Several minutes later, Jiraiya and Saeko, both using the Transformation Technique, were in the marketplace. "Where was he?" Jiraiya asked carefully as he scanned the busy square.

"Over on the other side," Saeko answered.

Jiraiya took a step forward, then froze as he felt the wards he'd just created activate. "He's behind us!" he shouted, dropping his transformation and turning around rapidly. Then he froze again, and he eyes dropped to his feet, seeing the thick shadow that bound him. He managed to look back at his companion. "You," he growled.

The woman only smiled, hands flicking through seals. "Shadow Neck Bind Technique," she hissed, and her shadow began to creep up Jiraiya's body, reaching hungrily for his neck.

Jiraiya vanished in a sudden burst of smoke. The real Jiraiya appeared as the column of smoke dispersed, chakra rotating rapidly in the palm of one hand. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded. Saeko's eyes were filled with fear, but she reacted rapidly, disappearing in a sudden cloud of dust. Jiraiya tensed to give chase, only to curse as he remembered he had more important matters to deal with. "Naruto!" he growled, blurring into rapid motion.

When he arrived at the hotel room mere moments later, he found the door to the room gone and a badly wounded Rui slumped against one wall. Naruto was nowhere to be found. The kunoichi stirred. "Sorry, Jiraiya-sama," she said weakly as she raised her head. "I wasn't able to stop him."

Jiraiya knelt beside her, his hands glowing with healing energy as he activated a minor medical ninjutsu. As he tended to Rui's wounds, he asked, "Who did this?"

"A man named… who called himself Kinji," Rui answered after a moment. "He was working with the slavers; Naruto-san and I encountered him before." She cursed suddenly.

Jiraiya removed his hands from her now less serious wounds, letting the chakra that hummed around them dissipate. "What?" he asked.

"That woman… her name was Saeko?" she asked. Jiraiya nodded. "Tsuneo, the Leaf missing ninja Naruto-san killed - one of the people working under him was a woman named Saeko, but she was wearing a mask so I didn't get a good look at her face." Rui cursed again. "If only I'd been paying more attention."

"It's not your fault," Jiraiya said as he rose. "I'm going to deal with the innkeeper, who no doubt wants words with me. Then we'll find your brother."

"And then?" Rui asked.

"And then," Jiraiya said grimly, "This Nara Saeko and this Kinji are going to learn just why two-bit thugs like them shouldn't mess with one of the legendary Sannin."

* * *

**Day ?**

Naruto couldn't say how long it had been since he had awakened in this place. The faded sunlight that filtered into these dark halls never changed in intensity or direction, leaving the impression that he was trapped in some timeless, eternal late afternoon. He had tried climbing up the walls to seek out the windows that had to exist somewhere overhead, but the molding bricks strangely resisted his chakra, impeding his progress, and no matter how high he ascended he never seemed to reach the ceiling.

Naruto had carefully explored every passageway, but each one, despite traveling in a different direction without turning, opened up into the same hall facing the same massive, sealed gate. Naruto hadn't dared return to that hall, but the Kyuubi's loud breathing was a constant reminder of the waiting demon. The fox had not spoken since Naruto had last fled its presence, but its last words weighed on the young genin's mind.

"The only way out is through," Naruto muttered. In the distance, as though it could hear him, the Kyuubi began to laugh softly - or at least as softly as a monstrous demon fox larger than most buildings could. Even this far from the gate, the fouled water under Naruto's feet rippled slightly, disturbed by the force of the demon's amusement. Naruto's fists clenched, and for a moment he irrationally wished to charge through the gate and punch the Kyuubi.

Naruto forced the insane impulse away. He wasn't an idiot, and he knew that the gate was the only thing keeping the monster from devouring him without a second thought. Going beyond it would be nothing but suicide. He took a deep breath, trying to clear his thoughts. He'd gotten out of here before, somehow, and he knew he could do it again. He just had to find the way.

The halls in all directions led only to the gate. The ceiling was unreachable. Frowning, Naruto knelt carefully, then, hesitating slightly, gingerly stuck his arm into the murky water he stood on. He quickly found the bottom - the water proved to be only a bit more than a foot deep - but he still grimaced. If there was some hidden exit, it would take him forever to find it like this.

Then, his frown lifted as he stood. His hands rapidly formed seals, and he breathed, "Shadow Replication Technique." Four clones appeared in a cloud of smoke. Naruto frowned briefly, then formed the same set set of seals, repeating the words. Smoke filled the dark hallways, crowding them with Naruto's shadow replications. In unison, their hands plunged into the murky water, searching for any hidden exits.

In the distance, the Kyuubi chuckled loudly, each barking laugh hitting the numerous Naruto like a physical blow. "You can't get out that way," the demon's deep voice came, and then there was the sound of the monster taking a deep breath. When it exhaled, a windstorm swept through the corridors, sending the horde of Naruto flying and flooding the halls with the white smoke of disappearing clones. The real Naruto futilely struggled against the winds as he was rapidly swept down the corridor.

He landed with a loud splash before the giant gate. As he pulled himself out of the shallow water, grimacing at the muck that covered his clothes, the Kyuubi's crimson eyes stared down at him. "What do you want?" Naruto snarled up at the demon.

"I told you," the Kyuubi stated. "The only way out is through." Lightning-fast, its claws pushed through the bars of the gate, hungrily reaching for Naruto. The genin jumped away, landing lightly on the surface of the water near the exit back into the maze of dark passages. "Stop wasting my time," the Kyuubi said as it retracted its giant claws.

"I'm not going in there!" Naruto shouted as he backed away.

The Kyuubi's giant face pressed against the gate. Its eyes glowed, and it snarled at Naruto. "We shall see." As Naruto watched nervously, it bit at its lip, drawing dark crimson blood. A drop fell, landing on Naruto's side of the gate with a loud splash, and Naruto almost lost his footing as the the resulting ripple passed him. The blood remained where it had fallen, a stagnant red patch in the murky water.

"What's that supposed to do?" Naruto demanded.

The Kyuubi only laughed. Crimson chakra seeped out of the gate, glowing brightly as it engulfed the demon's blood, the water around it boiling furiously. Naruto watched in dawning horror as the blood began to lift itself from the foul water, merging with the chakra and forming a monstrous beast.

The creation of blood and chakra soon stood on all fours, two tails moving slowly through the air behind it. The blood darkened and thickened, forming a shell around the chakra that somehow almost seemed like red fur as the fox-like head began to take shape. As ears sprouted from its head, the monster's empty eye sockets turned to Naruto, and it roared.

Naruto didn't have time to swallow nervously, quickly summoning a clone and going to work. The clone's hands guided Naruto's chakra, forming a rapidly spinning blue ball. Behind the gate, the Kyuubi chuckled softly, clearly amused.

The two-tailed fox raised one arm as Naruto's clone vanished in a puff of smoke. Screaming, "Rasengan!" Naruto charged. A massive claw of chakra sprung from the fox's arm, swiping at the oncoming ninja. The two attacks met head on, and for a moment Naruto thought that his Rasengan would be able to push through the fox's claw.

Even as the chakra construct rippled and exploded under the force of Naruto's attack, the genin was flung backward. One of the demon's two tails grew rapidly, wrapping around him in midair. He screamed, the tail burning like it was made of fire instead of blood. From far above, the Kyuubi laughed again. "Pathetic little brat," it said as its creation slowly lowered Naruto toward its open mouth. Even through the pain, Naruto's eyes widened as the miniature demon fox's jaws seemed to unhinge, opening far wider than should have been possible.

Then the blood and chakra monster swallowed him whole.

* * *

**Day Fifty-eight**

The hidden encampment was deep in the lightly settled near-wilderness that was the inland Hail Country. The vast majority of the island's populace lived in the port cities along its shores, and save for a scattering of peasant villages there was little enough in the country that wasn't more concerned with the surrounding Gulf of Storms than the land. This made the inland an excellent place to hide, and that was what Nara Saeko and her allies had needed.

Saeko grimly gave her companions yet another assessing study, wishing not for the first time that she had a better choice of friends. The two she trusted most were the two slavers whose ship had been stolen by the pair who had killed Tsuneo. Though under other circumstances they might have fled upon learning that both Yuki and Tsuneo were dead, they were scared enough of Saeko that she could control them easily.

The four ninja from this country were another story. Their leader, Kinji, seemed to believe that he was the one in charge of this grouping. While Saeko was certain that she could correct him easily enough, she did not want to waste her strength on that battle, however inconvenient Kinji's delusions were. His willing aid was worth that much.

It had been easy enough to disguise herself as a former slave and take passage on board the captured warship to the Hail Country with the rest of the slavers' prisoners. Figuring out how she would avenge her husband would have been much more difficult if she hadn't discovered and recognized the other six who were asking after Kitakami Rui and "Naru." With their aid, she had been able to implement a simple plan to distract Jiraiya long enough for the dirty work to be done.

Saeko sighed as she looked at the tent that contained the unexpected fruit of that work. "Something wrong, Nara-san?" Kinji asked her.

"We should kill the boy," Saeko said. "It's too dangerous. You were supposed to kill him and the Kitakami girl, not capture him. Jiraiya-sama will searching for us."

One of the two slavers nodded. "Saeko-sama is right. I don't like this at all."

Kinji raised an eyebrow. "You're so scared of a single ninja?" he asked mockingly.

"Idiot," Saeko snarled. "This isn't just any ninja we're dealing with. It's the legendary Sannin, Jiraiya the Toad Hermit!"

"Bah." Kinji waved his hand dismissively. "He's only the subject of a bunch of exaggerated stories." He smiled. "You yourself said that these Akatsuki were after the boy and hot on his trail. We just have to wait for them to show up and sell them the boy."

Saeko took a deep breath. Perhaps it was time to disillusion the Hail Country ninja after all. "You pathetic excuse for a ninja," she stated, "I am from the Leaf Village. I know Jiraiya-sama's strength. He will find us, and we cannot beat him. Even if the Akatsuki find us first, the type of person Jiraiya-sama is scared of won't pay us for the boy. They'll just take him, and if we're lucky they won't waste the time to kill us!" The other ninja began to murmur fearfully.

"Cowards," Kinji sneered as he rose. "Don't listen to a weakling like her."

"Weakling?" Saeko asked dangerously, standing slowly. She blurred into motion, reappearing behind Kinji, a kunai in hand, before he could react. "I was ranked as an elite chuunin in the Leaf Village before my husband and I were exiled. Have you ever been ranked as even a genin by any village?"

"No need to get excited," Kinji said, a hint of fear in his voice. He slowly walked over to the prisoner's tent, throwing it open and pulling out Uzumaki Naruto's still, bound form. He tossed the unconscious boy at Saeko's feet. "Kill him then."

Saeko nodded, kneeling and placing her kunai at Naruto's neck. She froze as Naruto's eyes flicked open, staring into the crimson, inhuman orbs for a moment, then leaping away. "Watch out!" she shouted. Kinji blinked, but before he could question Saeko the ropes that bound Naruto disintegrated. A kunai appeared in Kinji's hands, and he charged the boy, who whirled about on all fours to face him. Saeko cursed, hands flickering through seals. "Shadow Bind Technique!" she shouted, her shadow racing to snare the possessed boy.

For an instant, Naruto froze. Then the crimson chakra that was already faintly visible around him thickened, becoming an almost physical thing that surrounded him. Two tails began to grow rapidly behind him, and he raised one arm even against the force of Saeko's technique. Chakra, not at all impeded by the power restraining his physical body, formed a massive claw and raced toward the shocked Kinji, casually ripping him in half. Saeko instantly dropped her technique, turning to run as fast as she could.

One tail lengthened rapidly and coiled around one of her legs, tripping her. Saeko reached to free herself before she realized that the touch of the demonic chakra was burning her. She succeeded only in injuring her hands while the other ninja tried futile assaults that served only to annoy the demon.

Less than a minute later, they were all dead.

* * *

Jiraiya let out a quiet curse as he felt the sudden appearance of a massive, inhuman pulse of chakra. It seemed as though his captors had somehow managed to wake Naruto. That chakra could be felt all over the Hail Country by those sensitive enough, Jiraiya knew. He could only hope that Akatsuki wasn't on the island yet, or there would be a few troublesome people heading for the same place Jiraiya had started racing toward without thought.

Jiraiya felt gingerly at a small scroll he carried. If his theories were correct - and that was by no means certain - he might be able to put a stop to the rampage that was undoubtedly occurring. He hypothesized that, whatever means the Kyuubi was using to get this fraction of its power and rage out of the seal, when its power was finally spent Naruto's consciousness was being drawn into the seal along with the Kyuubi's chakra. That would then be the cause of the comas.

Jiraiya had designed an improvised seal that would, in theory, drain the chakra shroud into it. A second part would simultaneously guard Naruto's mind from being drawn into the Fourth's seal along with the dregs of the Kyuubi's chakra. He couldn't have used it on Naruto while already comatose, as his mind was already trapped. Now that he had awakened, though, Jiraiya hoped to test his theories.

The main problem was going to be applying the seal. While with time he thought he might be able to develop a seal that would work simply by touching it to the chakra shroud - still by no means an easy task - right now the the scroll itself was only the centerpiece of the seal. He would have to bind Naruto somehow while he completed the seal around him. That was going to be… tricky.

Evidently, Ichizo and Rui had been closer to Naruto than Jiraiya, for when he neared the possessed boy he saw the two Snow Country ninja facing him. Naruto stood in the ruins of a small encampment, bodies strewn about him and covered in blood that was almost invisible under the dark, thick red chakra that surrounded him. Jiraiya noted with relief that he still only possessed two tails - by all appearances, more tails would have meant that more of the Kyuubi's power was loose.

Rui was in the safest position, far behind her brother who was slowly walking toward Naruto, hands outstretched and empty. "Calm down, Naru-san… err, Naruto-san," he said soothingly. "We aren't enemies." Naruto stood stilly on all four, his chakra tails waving lazily through the air. Ichizo cautiously took another step forward. "Easy."

As he landed on top of a small, rocky hill overlooking the confrontation, Jiraiya cursed. "Kitakami Ichizo, you idiot," he said softly as he knelt, rapidly working through seals.

Ichizo took another step, and Naruto exploded into action, a claw of pure chakra swiping toward the unexpecting ninja. Rui screamed a too-late warning. Jiraiya finished his seals, plunging both hands onto the ground. "Doton: Tower of Earth!" he shouted. Groaning, the ground under Ichizo's feet hurled itself into the air, forming a massive, thick pillar. Ichizo almost lost his footing on top of the tower as Naruto's chakra claw slammed into the side.

For a long moment, everything was still. Then the crimson arm of chakra began to lengthen, spiraling around the pillar of earth as it reached hungrily toward Ichizo. He jumped away just in time, landing safely beside his sister. The tower rapidly began to crumble as Naruto's chakra withdrew back into the shroud. Naruto himself snarled, turning slowly to face Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya-sama!" Rui shouted at him, relief evident in her voice.

"Get out of here, you two!" Jiraiya yelled back. "You can't fight him!"

A claw of red chakra burst from the earth, catching Jiraiya in the chest. "Jiraiya-sama!" Rui shouted again, this time in fear.

There was a puff of smoke, and the impaled Jiraiya vanished. An instant later, five more Jiraiya appeared, surrounding Naruto. "Run, you idiots!" one yelled. As the pair of younger ninja finally complied, all five Jiraiya shouted "Hurry!" in unison as they charged their student.

Rui glanced back over her shoulder, seeing Naruto's limbs, both physical and formed of chakra, moving rapidly and the Jiraiya vanishing in clouds of smoke before they could reach the possessed ninja. Yet more Jiraiya continued to appear to join the charge, though Naruto destroyed them almost as quickly as they formed. The last she saw of the battle was the ground suddenly liquefying, catching both Naruto and what looked like two dozen Jiraiya in a muddy bog.

As soon as the two younger ninja were out of sight, the real Jiraiya, carefully hidden, cracked his knuckles slowly as he stepped into the open. "All right, then," he said softly as he stared at his student, still struggling to escape the swamp Jiraiya had created. Jiraiya's clones, trapped as well, vanished in a series of rapid explosions of white smoke. "Let's get serious, shall we?" the legendary Sannin asked as he pulled out and began to unroll the scroll he had prepared.

As if in answer, Naruto let out a mighty roar that might have blown a lesser man off his feet. Crimson chakra thickening around him, the demon-possessed boy pulled himself out of the muddy bog and hurled himself into the air.

* * *

**Day Fifty-nine**

Despite her best intentions, Sakura had not yet asked Anko what had been going on two days ago. They had spent yesterday continuing to work on Sakura's taijutsu and going over some of the Mitarashi Clan techniques. While Anko did not think the techniques were suitable for Sakura to learn at this point, she suspected that her sister would be teaching them to Shimano Ren, who could very well be Sakura's second opponent.

Sakura hoped that would not be the case. Ren's first opponent was Ino, and though Anko's hopes seemed to be the opposite, the pink-haired kunoichi wanted a rematch with her rival much more than a rematch with the Mist kunoichi. It had surprised Sakura how well she and Ino had worked as a team for the first parts of the exam and they were getting along much better, but there were still unresolved issues between them that could only be settled in one way. If they didn't meet in the formal exam, Sakura suspected they would find a way to have a match regardless.

Sakura shook her head, realizing that she was distracting herself again. She still wondered what the reason for Anko's sudden change of plans had been and what had caused that monstrous chakra. Yet, every time she had tried to lead a conversation in that direction, Anko had made it clear enough that she didn't want to talk about it. Pressing the notoriously unstable special jounin had struck Sakura as unwise, and so she was forced to let the matter lie.

This morning, Anko had seemed to recover some of her previous haste, and the pair were moving rapidly through the woods toward a large hill. Oddly, it seemed to Sakura that no trees grew even on the lowest slopes of the hill. In fact, now that she thought of it she couldn't see any green at all, only bare earth and rock. There could be a natural explanation, but Sakura suspected that the reason was the shrine that Anko had said was concealed there. From everything Sakura had learned, Manda the Lord of Snakes was not a nice god.

"Almost there," Anko said suddenly, increasing her speed. Sakura raced to follow, and they soon reached the foot of the bare hill. "The shrine is about half-way up," Anko stated as she led Sakura up a winding, barely discernible path. A few minutes later, they stood before a suspiciously smooth patch of rock. Anko grinned as she looked at her student. "Ready?" she asked.

Sakura shivered. "I guess," she said.

"Don't worry," Anko said. "There's really nothing to it, and the snakes aren't that different than any of the other spirit courts. At least, so long as you don't try to summon Manda-sama himself or one of the other really powerful ones. They can get pretty nasty."

"I see," Sakura said slowly.

Anko turned to the rock wall and made a rapid sequence of seals, then placed both hands on the stone. "Open," she breathed, and then her hands were touching nothing but air as a tunnel entrance appeared.

"Genjutsu?" Sakura asked.

Anko shook her head. "No, it was real. Whoever built this place just liked to show off, I think." Anko walked without hesitation into the dark tunnel, and Sakura reluctantly followed. It lead deep into the hill, and Sakura had begun to think that they should have come out the other side already by the time it opened up into a large chamber. Lit torches,scattered about the chamber, provided sufficient light, but Sakura didn't have time to wonder who or what maintained them, her eyes drawn instantly to the massive statue of a snake in the center of the room.

Something drew Sakura to the statue, and without prompting from Anko she approached it. Its open fanged maw hovering menacingly over head, Sakura knelt before it, staring at the base. There was a long, vertical rectangle of flat stone, with a smaller smooth circle beneath it, but her eyes were drawn instantly to the similar rectangle and circle to the blank one's left. Familiar characters had been carved into the rectangle, and a familiar handprint somehow imprinted into the stone circle.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Sakura read hesitatingly. He had been here. He was alive - though she'd done her best to discount him, the false Kabuto she had met in Rice Field Country's tale of Sasuke's death had haunted her nightmares for some time.

Anko cursed softly. "So that's why he was," she began, then trailed off. "Orochimaru's moving quicker with him than with…" She trailed off again.

Sakura wasn't able to do anything but stare at the name. Slowly, hesitatingly, she reached out to touch the handprint, her eyes watering. He had been here. The dull, ever-present heartache of his betrayal redoubled in strength, brought back to the forefront of Sakura's mind. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks. "Sasuke-kun," she mouthed silently.

"Sakura-chan?" Anko asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Damn it," Sakura muttered. "Damn it." She'd promised herself so many times she wasn't going to cry anymore, but she couldn't do anything to stop herself. She couldn't do anything at all, but kneel here, her hand gingerly resting on the indentation Sasuke's hand had somehow made in the stone.

"Sakura-chan?" Anko repeated, and Sakura heard the jounin take a step forward.

Breaking from her paralysis, Sakura rubbed at her eyes, wiping the bitter tears away. "I'm fine," she said quietly, hearing the lie in her own voice. Forcing herself not to look at Sasuke's name again, she sought out the next space over. "Mitarashi Anko," she read aloud, noting from the size of her handprint that Anko had to have been younger than Sakura was now when she had signed the contract.

Anko swallowed loudly. "Sakura-chan," she said again, this time nervously.

Sakura's eyes moved again. "Orochimaru," she stated as she glanced at the name carved into the stone, not at all surprised. All the pieces fell into place in an instant of sudden clarity. "He was your teacher."

Anko was silent for a long moment. "Yeah," she confirmed quietly. "I was his apprentice. Before."

Sakura stood and turned around, walking over to Anko and noting without surprise that her hand was clasped over her shoulder. The jounin didn't resist as Sakura pulled her hand away and pushed down Anko's jacket, revealing the tight circle of three black, comma-like markings. "The same as Sasuke-kun," she said quietly.

"Orochimaru's Heaven Seal," Anko said. She sighed, pulling her coat back up to cover the cursed seal. Her eyes and voice were flat when she continued. "We can head back to the village if you want."

For a long moment, Sakura didn't say anything. Then, not trusting herself to say anything, she turned around and walked back over to stand before the snake statue. For a moment, she thought that the giant statue shifted slightly to look down at her. "What do I do?" she asked simply.

It took Anko a while to answer, and when she spoke her voice was soft and weak. "Just write your name in blood on the blank space, then do a handprint beneath it."

"That's all?" Sakura asked, frowning.

"Yes," Anko said, her voice getting more firm. "I've already handled the tricky bits."

Sakura slowly pulled out a kunai. "There's only one space," she commented as she placed the sharp edge on her palm. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she pressed down firmly, breaking the skin and letting the blood flow.

She could somehow feel Anko shrug behind her. "There's always just one. The older ones move to the back of the cave to make room. Don't ask me how it works."

Sakura didn't reply as she dropped her bloodied weapon and set to work, dipping one finger of her other hand into to pool of blood forming on her palm. She quickly scrawled her name, her handwriting unusually sloppy, then she rubbed her hand in the blood and pressed it against the smooth circle beneath her name. Then she screamed.

The bloody characters that spelled her name began to glow, then twisted themselves into serpentine forms that crawled down her arm. Sakura could feel something burning as they wrapped themselves around her forearm, and her hand slowly sank into the stone. Her vision wavered as pain filled her, but it passed when she finally managed to yank her hand away.

The first thing that she noticed was the impression her hand had left in the smooth stone circle. Then she noted that her blood had etched her name into the rock above the handprint like it had been an exceedingly powerful acid. Finally, Sakura noticed the black serpent tattoo that had appeared on her left arm, and then she screamed again. She whirled around suddenly, shaking her arm at Anko. "What the hell is this, damn it?"

The special jounin smiled, rolling up a sleeve to show off her matching tattoo. "That's the sign that Mada-sama has accepted you." Anko laughed. "What do you know, it actually worked."

Sakura's rage over her unexpected new adornment was instantly replaced by a much deeper rage. "You didn't know whether it would work!"

A malicious grin appeared on Anko's lips. "Maybe, maybe not." She laughed again. "Let's make a deal. I'll tell you when you win the tournament."

The sheer ludicrous nature of that statement was enough to instantly disperse Sakura's anger. "Um… Mitarashi-sensei," she began, "I don't think that's going to happen."

"That's your first problem," Anko declared, her eyes twinkling. "Didn't teaming up with that Uzumaki brat teach you anything?"

"All right," Sakura said dubiously. She knew it was important to have confidence, but being over-confident was just as bad, wasn't it?

"I might not have a whole lot more time with you," Anko said. "I really should be back in the village by the end of the week, and once we're there it won't be appropriate for me to train you directly. Let's make the time we have count." She slowly moved through a surprisingly short sequence of seals. "Those're the seals for the Summoning Technique." She grinned widely once more. "Shall we begin?"

* * *

Naruto awoke with a start. His eyes flicked open, and he had leapt out of the narrow bunk he'd bee lying on, reaching for a kunai that wasn't there before he'd even consciously noticed the unfamiliar, low ceiling of dark wood.

A familiar sigh came from the seemingly middle-aged man seated on a stool next to the door. "Calm down, Naruto," he said, running a hand through his black hair.

Naruto blinked. "Ero-sennin?" he asked. One hand went to his own hair, as he realized that just like in his… dream, it was short again.

The man nodded. "Akatsuki knows about Jiro and Naru now, so I had to change our disguises."

Naruto's eyes widened. "How?" He stumbled as the floor moved under his feet. "We're on a ship?"

Jiraiya gave his student another nod. "To the Lightning Country," he said simply.

"What happened?" Naruto demanded.

His answer was a question. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was fighting Yuki." Naruto frowned. "Where's Rui-san?"

"On her way back to the Snow Country." Jiraiya quickly gave his student an edited version of the events of the past several days, leaving out entirely the misadventures that had started after Nara Saeko's allies had successfully kidnapped Naruto. "Once we realized it would be a while before you woke up," Jiraiya finished, "I told Ichizo and Rui to go ahead and go home, then got us passage on this ship."

"Oh," Naruto said, his voice quiet. Jiraiya wondered briefly whether the boy had somehow noticed that he was leaving out something important. "So who am I now?" he asked after a moment.

Jiraiya sighed. "At this point, I think speed is our ally more than stealth. Akatsuki aren't going to be fooled by simple disguises. I went ahead and re-dyed your hair and hid your whiskers again before we left Hail Country, but once we land I think it'll be best to openly declare ourselves to the Cloud. Ideally, we'll get an escort to the Cloud Village."

"Why do we want to go there, anyway?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya gave the boy a long look, his eyes settling on his stomach. Naruto's hand followed his gaze, resting lightly on the navy shirt he wore. "I know that," he said quietly. "You told me before we left Hojo-sensei's. But why the Cloud Village?"

"I have a friend there," Jiraiya answered. "Her name's Kaida. If anyone in the world can help us, it's her. She's a sealing expert."

"I see," Naruto said. "What'll we do if Akatsuki catches up with us while we're there?"

"I doubt they'll stage an open assault on the Temple of the Thunder Dragon," Jiraiya said dryly. "We'll be in the heart of the Cloud Village, a stone's throw from the Raikage's palace." Jiraiya smiled coldly. "I almost wish they would. Between Kaida-chan and myself, we'd be able to start thinning their numbers, even if the rest of the Cloud stayed out of it."

"She's that strong?" Naruto asked disbelievingly.

Jiraiya grinned at him. "She might very well be the most powerful kunoichi in the world."

"Stronger than Tsunade-baachan?"

"Not in physical strength, no." Jiraiya sighed. "Kaida-chan is definitely on the same sort of level as Tsunade, Hojo, or me, but at our level it's almost meaningless to talk about who's stronger. Any fight would probably just come down to who made a mistake first."

"Oh," Naruto said.

"If anyone can help you, she can," Jiraiya continued after a moment. "Like I said, she's a sealing expert, and she's also the only person who might help us with hands-on experience with a seal like yours. The only alternative is all the way in Wind Country, and getting that old bitch to help us wouldn't be easy."

"Hands-on experience?" Naruto asked, his hand once again resting briefly on his stomach. "Did she seal -"

"Not quite," Jiraiya said.

"A demon is sealed inside her?"

"Not quite," Jiraiya repeated. "I'll let her decide how much to tell you. It's not precisely top secret, but it isn't something I should be telling you without permission either."

For a long moment, Naruto didn't say anything. Then, he swallowed nervously before speaking. "When I was asleep… I sort of had a dream."

Jiraiya raised a eyebrow, and Naruto quickly described his encounter with the Kyuubi. A worried expression passed over Jiraiya's face, but all he said was, "Be sure to tell Kaida-chan that when we get there."

* * *

**Day Sixty**

For once, Tsunade was happy to be working. This probably had quite a bit to do with the fact that the work she was performing was about as far from paperwork as one could get without being on a battlefield. In fact, from one point of view she was on a battlefield, waging the latest delaying engagement in the never-ending war against death. "Keep your chakra flow steady," Tsunade said simply as she carefully flexed her hands, mentally working her way through the sequence of seals she would be performing shortly. "I'll need you three to keep the patient stable while I perform the surgery."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," chorused the three chuunin medics who surrounded her. In unison, they formed their own seals, then laid their hands on specially prepared positions on the stone operating table. Green healing chakra shone around their hands, then spread, lighting numerous characters painted on the table. The patient moaned, even though he was under an anesthetic technique.

"Let's do this, then," Tsunade declared. It took years of training for her not to grimace as she looked at the patient, a sixteen-year-old genin. He hadn't even suffered these horrible injuries in real battle - he'd been training with his team in the forests outside the village and fallen from the top of one of the massive trees. The injuries from that were compounded by the fact that the fall had been caused by the genin botching a fire element technique, adding numerous serious burns to his problems.

While the operating room was well-stocked with sterilized scalpels and other tools, Tsunade had long since surpassed the need for such crude physical implements. After precisely forming a complicated set of seal combinations, many of which were unique to her, Tsunade's hands hovered over the young boy's battered body and she set to work.

Hours later, the Hidden Village of the Leaf's Fifth Hokage stepped out of the operating room and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She was completely exhausted, but despite - or even because of - that, she felt better than she had in weeks. It was such a relief to actually be doing something, instead of simply ordering that something be done. Pausing only to thank the chuunin who had assisted her for their hard work and make sure she would be informed at once if the genin's condition became unstable, Tsunade cheerfully made her way out of the village hospital.

She paused once she was outside, glancing longingly in the direction of the nearest bar. Then, with a shake of her head and a mournful sigh, she turned around and walked the short distance to her office. Nodding politely to the chuunin guarding the administration building's entrance, she slipped inside, making her way through the nearly empty halls - it was lunchtime, after all.

When she entered her office, Shizune was sitting at her desk, working her way through Tsunade's paperwork. Her old apprentice looked up, smiling slightly. "Have fun, Tsunade-sama?" she asked, lightly placing a sheet of paper onto a fairly large stack. "These are the ones that there's just no way I could handle on my own."

Tsunade groaned, pushing the stack aside and seating herself on the vacated spot on her desk. "Thanks for this, Shizune," she said. "I really needed to spend some time doing something real, and there was a boy who might have died if I hadn't been there."

Shizune smirked slightly. "Even you earn a break sometimes, Tsunade-sama." Her smile widened. "I think you should be ready for your next one in a decade or so."

Tsunade groaned, then began to tap her fingers idly on the edge of her desk. "We're going to have to do something after the exams finish," she stated. "I'm going to need a lot more free time than I have to train Sakura-chan."

"I know," Shizune said. "I think I can handle doing this for you three days out of the week without letting my own work get too far behind. That'll free up the morning on those days."

"Thanks, Shizune," Tsunade said. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Shizune rolled her eyes. "You'd be the first Kage to die of alcohol poisoning."

"Eighth Raikage," Tsunade stated flatly. "Before the Leaf Village was even founded. The Cloud still say that a Rock agent poisoned him, but all the historical information that survives indicates that he was just an old drunkard who didn't appreciate his own limits."

Shizune blinked. "Really?"

"Really," Tsunade answered. "Orochimaru and I did all the research back when we were genin, since we were curious what sort of poison could kill a Kage." She grinned. "I was pretty pissed at the Second for reasons that aren't worth getting into." Shizune gasped, and Tsunade laughed. "Just kidding about that last bit. We really were just curious."

Shizune rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I thought you were holding off until the exams were over to decide whether Sakura-chan would be your apprentice."

Tsunade waved a hand in the air vaguely. "Unless she performs truly disappointingly, which I've got no reason to expect given what I've heard from Anko-chan and others, I'll take her. I'm not so cruel as to deny Sakura-chan if she has a bad match in the first round."

Shizune nodded, then she grimaced. "Is it really such a good idea to have Anko-chan training her?"

Tsunade's hand made another arc through the air. "I've got enough of a cover story for plausible deniability. None of the Leaf's jounin will raise a fuss, and I did go ahead and quietly make sure the Waterfall didn't have any serious objections. That sister of hers might not like it, but since the Mist aren't part of the exam system they don't actually have any rights."

Shizune shook her head, clearly displeased by the rule-bending, then she sighed. "I suppose that's a silver lining, though. Sakura-chan is technically supposed to be Anko-chan's student and heir so far as the Mitarashi Clan is concerned. The two of them training together gives that more credibility."

Tsunade nodded. "I'm not anticipating any problems from that front - Anko-chan's grandmother seems to be pretty pissed at this Mitarashi Kimi, so I doubt we're in much danger of her switching sides anytime soon. Still, it wouldn't hurt for Anko-chan to be teaching her some more of her family techniques as soon as possible."

Shizune shuddered suddenly. "Did she ever say that was going to be what she'd teach Sakura-chan?"

Tsunade blinked. "I assumed," she began, then trailed off slowly. "Anko-chan wouldn't teach her any forbidden techniques," she said after a moment, though a hint of uncertainty plagued her voice.

"I would hope not," Shizune muttered. "Even without going that far, though, Anko-chan's taste in techniques leaves something to be desired."

"Anko-chan's not stupid," Tsunade said. "She ought to know what's appropriate to teach Sakura-chan." She paused. "I hope."

* * *

Rock Lee was confused. The seemingly simple situation in the Bird Country when they arrived, an over-ambitious strategist attempting to depose the previous daimyo's weak heir and opposed by the daimyo's trusted adviser, he had understood. A simple glance with the Byakugan, however, had quickly revealed that the daimyo was apparently actually a girl, who might or might not be the person who was supposed to be the daimyo's supposedly deceased sister. Poison had been found in the previous daimyo's body. Strange ninja - not the ninja-trained guards working for the strategist - had appeared and the adviser who had hired them was acting suspiciously, to say the least.

Lee couldn't keep it all straight, but thankfully that wasn't his job. He could trust Neji to do that and point Tenten and himself in the right direction. Right now, that direction was toward a secret tunnel into the the daimyo's palace they had uncovered earlier. The plan was to interrogate the strategist - captured by the Leaf team themselves when he was caught with incriminating evidence indicating he was behind the false ghost sightings - before his scheduled execution in the morning. Neji believed that he held the key to understanding the situation and fulfilling their true mission: resolving the unrest in the Bird Country to the benefit of the Fire Country and the Hidden Village of the Leaf.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the strange ninja also knew of the passage, as one had appeared as they neared the abandoned building that hid the entrance. "Foolish little Leaf ninja," the man said in a low voice. Lee noted that the enemy was already surreptitiously filling his hands with shuriken. Beside him, Tenten followed suit just as carefully. "You're supposed to go back to your village like good boys and girls once the mission is done, aren't you?"

For several seconds, everyone was still. Then, there was a brief flicker of movement from Tenten and the enemy ninja. Shuriken filled the air, thrown so rapidly that Lee couldn't even see the weapons before they collided in midair with a loud clatter. Metal rained down from the sky, and Tenten smirked. There was a crimson patch on the strange man's shoulder, while the three genin were untouched.

The man cursed. "I won't let brats like you humiliate me!" he shouted, stepping backward and forming a sequence of seals. One hand lightly touched a boulder behind him, and the man's skin hardened and shifted color until it seemed like he was carved out of the same gray stone. His stony mouth smirked. "You're all going to die."

"We don't have time for this," Neji snarled as he began to fall into a Gentle Fist fighting stance.

Lee interposed himself between his teammate and the man. "Go ahead with Tenten," he stated. "I'll deal with him and catch up."

Neji straightened instantly. "Right." He vanished in a blur of motion.

Tenten favored Lee with a worrying glance. "Don't overdo it," she warned before disappearing herself.

"You think it's going to be that easy?" the man shouted. He curled up into a ball, which began to spin rapidly. "Assimilated Rock Tank!"

Lee's eyes widened in surprise as he recognizing the model for the technique, but he wasn't so surprised as to be caught unprepared when the rocky ball rolled straight at him. Waiting until almost the last instant, he vaulted over the man. His enemy slammed into the wall behind Lee, and there was a sudden explosion. When the dust settled, the enemy ninja was on the ground, but he quickly pulled himself to his feet. "Explosive tags," he snarled. "You're faster than you look, to do that without being noticed. You're too good to be a fresh brat like you're supposed to be."

Lee grinned widely, not leaving the fighting stance he had landed in. "I am the Leaf's beautiful green beast, Rock Lee!"

The man snickered. "I'm no village's nothing, Nagare," he stated simply. "Now that you three have gotten this far into this country's secrets, I'm afraid we're going to have to kill you all."

"We shall see, Nagare-san," Lee responded politely. Then he vanished.

Nagare looked around cautiously, relaxing slightly. "Running away too?" he asked with a brief snort.

Lee reappeared inside the man's guard. "No," he answered simply as his foot connected solidly with Nagare's stone jaw, knocking the transformed man into the air. He blurred into motion again, this time reappearing behind Nagare in midair.

"Leaf Shadow Dance," the older ninja snarled.

"Correct," Lee stated. The bandages wrapped around his arms began to unravel. Propelled by some invisible force, they enveloped Nagare, binding the two ninja together Lee used his weight to flip them around so that their heads faced the oncoming ground. The two began to spin rapidly in midair. "Primary Lotus!"

"Are you insane!" Nagare shouted. "Is this some type of suicide technique?"

Lee didn't respond, but mere instants before they hit the ground, the bandages released their captive and Lee kicked off of Nagare, flying away to land safely several feet away. The older ninja, with no time to react, hit the ground headfirst at full speed. For a long moment, all was still, then the stone man crumbled into a pile of rocks.

Lee breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing slightly and allowing his over-stretched body to shake. Even now, this technique pushed his body to its limits, particularly when he left his weights on. At least it had had worked. He wasn't certain he could have continued to fight after that. Slowly, he turned around. He needed to catch up with his team.

"Assimilated Rock Blizzard!"

Lee's eyes widened at Nagare's voice, and barely managed to force himself to flip out of the way of the hail of rock shards flying at him. Slowly, the shards reassembled themselves in midair, once again forming Nagare's body. Lee cursed softly, one hand inching toward the hilt of a kunai, though he wasn't sure what good it would do. "What are you?"

Nagare laughed. "We are wandering ninja who travel from village to village stealing techniques and giving birth to new techniques." He slowly stretched out one hand, which began to crumble into gray dust. "Like, for example, these techniques." He paused, smiling menacingly. "Assimilated Desert Coffin!"

Lee's eyes widened again in dawning horror. There was no way he was going to escape that technique in his condition. His hands futilely went to his weights, but he knew there was no way he could get them off in time. To him, it all seemed to happen in slow motion, the fine powder forming in a massive cloud shaped like a human hand, racing to engulf him in a sight from his nightmares. His hands freezing, Lee closed his eyes. It was over.

When he didn't die, Lee slowly opened his eyes. A familiar figure stood between him and Nagare. "Who are you?" demanded the wandering ninja.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee breathed.

"Just rest, Lee," Gai responded, his eyes never leaving his foe. "I'll take care of this trash."

* * *

**Day Sixty-one**

Compared to the massive city in the Earth Country the pair of Leaf ninja had set sail from weeks ago, the port they disembarked at in Lightning Country was small. Compared to most other places Naruto had been in his limited travels, it was quite large. From first glimpse it was larger than the Leaf Village, though Naruto couldn't say with any certainty how much bigger. In any case, he was more interested in taking in the exotic sight - the port was as different from its counterpart in Earth country as that crowded, massive city had been from the Leaf Village.

Every road, however small, that Naruto could see was paved with large white stones that shone brightly with reflected sunlight. Even here at the port itself, which Naruto's experience told him was in most cities filthy and disordered, everything was clean. The crowds of people were almost as chaotic as the much larger horde that had crowded the docks in Earth Country, however. Unlike in that country, though, Naruto could make out the figures of armored guards patrolling through the throngs of people.

As the two Leaf ninja neared the head of the line waiting to be inspected before disembarking from the Hail Country ship, Naruto reached up nervously to adjust his forehead protector. It seemed like it had been forever since he'd openly worn it, and the weight on his head felt odd to him now. He could only hope that Jiraiya knew what he was doing. Was it really such a good idea to openly declare themselves? Surely even without taking Akatsuki into account, the Cloud would not appreciate unannounced Leaf tourists.

"Easy, boy," Jiraiya said, laying one hand on his student's shoulder. "I'll take care of everything. Just let me do the talking."

Naruto nodded, and finally the last person ahead of them was admitted into the Lightning Country. The bureaucrat handling customs looks up from his desk and gasped slightly when he saw Naruto's forehead protector. This instantly attracted the attention of the two uniformed Cloud ninja who had been disinterestedly watching the proceedings. Before the customs officer could say anything, the ninja stood in front of his desk, facing the Naruto and Jiraiya.

"State your names and business," one of the two Cloud said slowly, tension evident in his voice.

"I am Jiraiya and this is my student Uzumaki Naruto. My business is none of your concern, but I request an escort to the Cloud Village and the Temple of the Thunder Dragon." Jiraiya's voice made it plain that his request was more of a demand.

Against all of Naruto's expectations, the pair of Cloud guards actually relaxed slightly, trading a look. "We received word from Kaida-sama to expect you and your student, Jiraiya-sama."

"Is that so?" Jiraiya said slowly. Naruto could feel his teacher tensing. "I don't recall sending word ahead to her of my coming."

The other Cloud ninja coughed. "We were told you might say that. Kaida-sama asked that you be told that…" The ninja trailed off, coughing again.

"That you were being a paranoid old fool and that Iwakuro Hojo warned her of your plans," the first ninja finished.

Jiraiya grimaced, and the two ninja stepped back. "I'm not mad at you," he said. "That fool Hojo should have known better than that. If that message had been intercepted -" Jiraiya cut off, sighing. "We'd be in much the same situation we are now, I suppose."

"Izano will take you to our garrison post here, Jiraiya-sama," the first ninja continued when it was apparent that the Sannin was done speaking. "It will take a day or so to arrange for a proper escort, but we will have you on your way as soon as possible. Is that acceptable, Jiraiya-sama?"

"Yes," Jiraiya said. "Thank you."

The second ninja - Izano, it seemed - coughed again. "If you could please come with me?" he asked.

Jiraiya nodded, and the Cloud ninja turned to leave. "Come along, boy," he told Naruto as he unhesitatingly followed Izano.

As they made their way through the streets, Naruto whispered to Jiraiya, "Can we really trust these guys?"

"Not even as far as we can throw them," Jiraiya said, his lips barely moving. "I trust Kaida-chan, but this is an enemy nation just like Earth Country. Be on your guard."

Naruto nodded. "Right."

"Also," Jiraiya continued, "we need to keep an eye out for Akatsuki. They're already on our trail, and we aren't exactly being stealthy anymore."

Naruto just nodded again, but he already knew that he wasn't going to be sleeping well tonight.

* * *

Several times before in her life, such as when she'd been standing guard all night over her fallen teammates in the Forest of Death, Sakura had thought that she was as exhausted as it was physically possible for a human being to be. Now she knew that, on each and every one of those times, she had been mistaken. Now she was even more tired than all of those times combined. She was not happy about this, and she knew exactly how to blame.

If, through some odd set of circumstances she wound up having any say in the matter, Sakura would make sure that Mitarashi Anko was never given a genin team. If the past days were any example of what she considered to be training, any fresh genin under her supervision would be dead within a week. Come to think of it, Sakura wasn't certain that she wouldn't be dead within a week if she didn't get away from this madwoman.

The famously psychotic special jounin in question glanced back at her student. "Come on, Sakura-chan!" she called as she leapt to the next tree branch. "It's been five minutes. Your chakra should have recovered by now!"

By this point, Sakura was in no condition to summon the necessary willpower to argue, even if she hadn't known from bitter experience that it was worse than futile. For what seemed like the millionth time, she formed a set of seals. Then, almost by instinct, she rolled up her sleeve and bit at the thumb of her opposite hand. If Anko hadn't known a minor healing technique that she'd used too infrequently on Sakura, she thought that she'd have done serious damage to herself doing this by now.

Without giving herself time to remember how disgusting what she was doing was, she wiped her bloody thumb down the ugly dark snake tattoo that had appeared on her arm after signing that stupid contract. She was going to be in the shower for at least a day trying to get all the dried blood off of her arm. Slowly, she knelt, touching her hand to the rough bark of the branch she stood on. "Summoning Technique," she stated quietly, the exhaustion plain in her voice.

Smoke poured out from under her own, and soon she felt the now-familiar texture of snake scales underneath her palm. Taking a deep breath, she looked down at the creature she had summoned. This one was bright red, she noticed. Did snakes come in bright red?

Ahead of her, Anko whistled. "That one's almost a two-footer. See, you're getting the hang of it. Now, let the poor confused thing go and let's get moving again."

Tiredly, Sakura briefly studied the snake coiling itself around her legs, memorizing its appearance in case she ever wanted to summon this particular snake again. "You can go," she said. "I'm just practicing." There was a burst of smoke, and then the snake was gone. Sakura took a deep breath and fell out of the tree.

In an instant, Anko was beneath her, catching her and landing lightly on the forest floor. "Easy, Sakura-chan," Anko stated. "You okay?"

Sakura looked up at the special jounin. "No," she managed to get out as the world swam around her.

Anko set her student down, rubbing at her chin thoughtfully. "Aha! I've got just the thing." She pulled out of small pill and carefully placed it in Sakura's mouth.

Instinctively, Sakura chewed and swallowed before she realized she recognized the foul taste. Coughing and sitting up as energy flooded through her, she gave her teacher a hateful gaze. "A soldier pill?" she asked.

"It got you up and moving again, didn't it?" Anko asked cheerfully.

"It's not safe to use them like that!" Sakura protested.

"Bah, that's just what the medical ninja say so they'll have less work," Anko replied. "Trust me, I'm in ANBU. We know these things. You might need a few days bed rest once we're through, but you're not in any danger."

"You are aware that I'm supposed to be fighting in the third exam in a bit more than a week?" Sakura asked dryly as she stood.

"Right," Anko muttered. "Okay," she stated. "We'll do it one more time, then we'll be through."

With a sigh, Sakura repeated the familiar set of actions, channeling every dredge of chakra she could muster. "Summoning Technique."

When the cloud of smoke faded, a new voice smoke. "Well, that was fast," the gray snake Seseki stated. "Congratulations… mistress."

Sakura stared at the snake for a moment, then fell to her knees. "Thank you," she muttered reflexively.

Anko frowned. "You never call me mistress, Seseki," she said.

"Yeah, well it took you half a month to get to where you could summon me," Seseki replied. "Took her… what, two days?"

"Well, yeah," Anko agreed grudgingly, "but I was wasting all that time on stupid, pointless things like food and sleep. Plus, Sakura-chan was using a soldier pill."

The gray snake's tongue flicked out in amusement. "Well, it seems my time here is up. Call on me again sometime." There was yet another puff of smoke, and the two kunoichi were alone.

Sakura breathed heavily, glaring daggers at Anko. Useless things like food and sleep? If she wasn't so tired, she would try to kill the special jounin. "Satisfied?" she muttered.

"Very," Anko replied with a grin. "I've got one last thing to show you, and then we'll head for home."

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings

1) And that's a wrap on the shortest chapter in a good long while. Took me longer than I was expecting to get it out, but that's par for the course.

2) As always, I welcome any and all comments on my story. Thanks also go to everyone on the FFML who commented on the draft.

3) Next time in One Hundred Days Chapter 10, Friends and Foes: Naruto and Jiraiya finally reach the Cloud Village, while Sakura and the other competitors makes the best of the last days before the third exam.

Draft Started: March 30, 2006  
Draft Finished: April 28, 2006  
Draft Released: April 30, 2006  
Final Released: May 04, 2006


	11. Chapter 10: Friends and Foes

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 10: Friends and Foes

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, cows. Moo.

* * *

**Day Sixty-two**

It wasn't a particularly good trait for a Leaf ninja, but unless she was paying close attention, forests all looked the same to Haruno Sakura. She'd been paying almost no attention the previous day, as Anko had made her constantly summon snakes as quickly as her chakra could recover from the last summoning. Even after a night's sleep, she felt like she could barely summon enough chakra for a single replication.

Due to her inattention, she had only Anko's word - never one hundred percent trustworthy - that they were only a day or so from the gates of the Leaf Village. Still, Anko had no real reason to lie that Sakura could see. The special jounin had said that she needed to be back soon, and that made sense since the third exam was now little more than a week away.

Sakura grimaced. While Anko had said this training would increase her chakra reserves, Sakura wasn't certain whether this had been the best use of her time. Summoning snakes might be useful in general, but she didn't have to chakra to summon one big enough to be of much use in a direct fight. Though the related technique Anko had shown her had some potential. The pink-haired genin rubbed at the snake tattoo on her arm through the jacket, grimacing. The mechanics of that technique were just creepy.

Anko glanced backward at her student. "Having a problem?" she asked, for once only concern in her voice. "If you're having difficulties, you should go ahead and release the technique. It'll just get messy if it comes out when you aren't expecting it."

Sakura shuddered, jumping forward to land on the branch of the next tree beside the special jounin. "I'm fine," she said shortly.

Anko pouted. "Are you still mad at me?"

Sakura glared at the older woman. "Stupid, pointless things like food and sleep," she quoted Anko's words from yesterday.

Anko laughed. "It worked, didn't it?"

"You're lucky I didn't go into a coma!" Sakura protested.

The other kunoichi rolled her eyes. "I do know what I'm doing, Sakura-chan." She leapt lightly, bypassing the next tree and landing on a lower branch two trees away. "Come on. If we hurry, we can be home tomorrow morning."

Sakura jumped, not bothering to duplicate her teacher's feat, then jumped again to catch up with Anko. "Home," the genin muttered. It wasn't like she really had a home to go back to, did she? The only thing that awaited her was Naruto's empty apartment Even Ino might still be on a mission.

Anko didn't take another jump, instead just looking down at the young girl. "Problems?" she asked softly.

"Yes," Sakura admitted after a moment. She was far too tired to come up with some excuse to deflect Anko's curiosity.

"Want to talk about it?" Anko pressed after a moment.

"Not really." Sakura moved ahead to the next tree.

In an instant Anko was beside her, and Sakura started. She hadn't felt the jounin move at all. "Really?"

"Really."

Anko lightly hit the top of Sakura's head. "Liar," she said, grinning widely.

Sakura sighed. "You're not going to let this drop until I tell you, are you?"

"Nope," Anko agreed. "You are sort of my student. That makes me responsible for you, at least a little." She grinned again. "Plus, it'll make good gossip."

Sakura gave the older woman a hateful glare, but then another sigh escaped her lips. It wasn't like she could stop Anko from finding out. The Hokage and Shizune knew most of it, and Anko could probably get it out of them. "Fine," she muttered. Come to think of it, Anko could probably relate at least a little. "One of your sister's students," she stated. "She said she was a member of a Haruno Clan."

Anko nodded. "I'd heard. So?"

"I'd already been having problems with my mother before that," Sakura said. "I can't talk to her about it, and I don't know what's going on. After the second exam, there were ANBU watching her! My mother!"

"Why can't you talk to her about it?" Anko asked casually. Without waiting for an answer, she began to move again.

It took Sakura a moment to gather herself and jump after the older woman. "Because I'm scared," she admitted, then groaned. She couldn't believe that she'd just said that to Anko, of all people.

"Look at it this way," Anko said lightly. "She's already kicked you out and practically disowned you, from what I've heard. The only way she could make it worse would be to actually attack you, and then you'd at least get to work out your frustrations." Anko smiled evilly. "Beating up family is very therapeutic. Kimi and I should try it again sometime."

Sakura wasn't able to stop herself from laughing. "My mom isn't a ninja," she said. Then she gazed suspiciously at Anko. "How did you hear that Mother kicked me out? I didn't say that."

Anko grinned again. "I'll tell you a secret," Anko said. "Shizune-sempai's a very talkative drunk. The tough part is tricking her into drinking, but once you've done that she'll tell you anything you want to know. Learned that from the Fourth himself."

Another laugh escaped from Sakura, mostly at the strange absurdity of imagining a legend like the Fourth Hokage interacting casually with people she knew. "That's horrible." Then Sakura's face fell. "I don't think I can make myself talk to her." She didn't need to say that she wasn't referring to Shizune.

"Sounds like you need some motivation," Anko said lightly. "Tell you what. If I hear that you haven't spoken with your mother within two days of us getting home, I'll start sneaking snakes into your bed until you do." Anko smiled menacingly. "The third exam won't have me so busy that I won't have time to do that."

Sakura paled. "You wouldn't."

"It's a promise!" Anko declared happily, and then she leapt away. Shaking her head, Sakura followed after her.

* * *

"Well then," Mitarashi Kimi said slowly, a wicked smile gracing her face, "since Saburo has so kindly taken himself out of consideration, I suppose Ren and Midori can spar."

Her only male student struggled against the ropes that bound his arms behind him. "It wasn't fair," Aoki Saburo protested. "Midori caught my eyes and kept me paralyzed while Ren-chan snuck up behind me and got my arms."

Shimano Ren rolled her eyes, running one hand through her short, dark hair. "Since when was being fair part of being a ninja?"

The third member of the team snarled out the only possible answer. "Since never." Then, Haruno Midori's face lightened and she smiled. "Just be glad I didn't do worse to you.

"That's right," Kimi stated as she knelt behind Saburo, casually slicing his bonds with a suddenly appearing kunai. "But you won't be able to fight two on one in the exam, Midori."

"A water clone," the green-eyed kunoichi began, but her teacher interrupted her.

"Is only useful as a distraction against an opponent on your level. Remember that the clone only has a fraction of your strength."

"Right," Midori admitted, "but if I'm able to use Gaze of Binding I can use Gaze of Torment instead and end the fight." She frowned slightly. "Though that does take a lot more chakra."

Ren began to stretch. "So what are we waiting for?" she asked.

As one, Kimi and Saburo backed away from the two young kunoichi. "Begin," Kimi said dryly, and the pair blurred into motion.

A spinning kick from Ren struck Midori in the neck, but she only dissolved into water. Ren flipped away moments before a handful of shuriken flew through where she'd been standing. A kunai appeared in her hands and flew back at Midori, who rolled out of the way. Another kunai ready, Ren charged, and Midori jumped away, landing lightly on the surface of a nearby pond.

"Let's get serious, shall we?" Midori asked. Without waiting for a response, her hands flickered through seals. "Suiton: Water Shuriken Technique!" Small discs of water appeared in the air around her and hurled themselves at Ren.

Without missing a second, Ren formed seals of her own, then brought one hand up to her mouth. "Katon: Fireball Technique!" A quick spray of flame burst from between her lips, engulfing Midori's attack in a hiss a steam. When that faded, Ren's eyes widened. Hidden in each liquid projectile had been a real shuriken. She froze for an instant, but still reacted quickly, forming a seal with one hand. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" Flames sprouted from between the fingers of her other hand, and with one swipe she knocked the oncoming shuriken away.

"Not bad," Midori said, grinning. Ren nodded, then vanished in an explosion of black smoke. "Shadow Smoke Evasion," Midori snarled, looking about wildly for any sign of her opponent. From the sidelines, Saburo snickered. "What's so funny?" Midori demanded.

She got her answer a moment later, as Ren's hands emerged directly beneath Midori, grabbing her ankles and pulling her into the pond with a loud splash. The surface of the water rippled, then Ren hurled herself out of the lake, almost stumbling as she landed on the soft earth of the shore. "She made water clones," she explained as she drew a kunai, falling into a defensive stance.

Mere seconds later, five copies of Midori jumped out of the lake, surrounding their opponent in a rough circle. "Thought this was going to be easy, didn't you?" one asked.

Ren's kunai sprouted from the speaker's chest, then fell to the earth as that Midori dissolved into water. "I didn't know you could make this many clones," Ren commented, not letting her guard down.

"I've been training too," one Midori replied, then the whole group charged Ren from all directions. Ren ducked under one kunai strike, reactivating the Claw of the Fire Dragon as she dodged. The tendrils of flame grew rapidly as Ren spun, striking and disrupting each clone in turn. The real Midori flipped away, landing lightly. "Not bad," she stated.

Ren grinned. "It gets better." The one-handed seal she held changed slightly as she stopped her spin, and her fiery claws quickly retracted. They didn't die out, however, instead settling into an aura of flame surrounding Ren's hand. Without breaking the seal in her other hand, Ren raced at Midori, getting inside the other kunoichi's guard before she could react. Ren's open, flame-wreathed hand darted toward her teammate's neck.

Midori barely managed to avoid the strike, dropping to the ground and raising one arm to knock aside Ren's blow. Her other hand hit the ground and she pushed away, her foot kicking out to catch Ren squarely in the chest. Ren stumbled back, losing her concentration and breaking the seal she still held. The aura of flame around her other hand died out moments later.

Mitarashi Kimi nodded to herself, then clapped once loudly. "That's enough."

Instantly, both kunoichi fell out of their fighting stances, grinning widely at each other. "Good fight," Ren said.

"I would have won," Midori stated, but her tone was light.

"I always miss the fun fights," Saburo griped quietly.

Kimi let out a short bark of laughter, then spoke again. "It's about time for us to meet our escort back to the Leaf Village. I want you all the use this week to continue scouting out the village, but remember: not a word about the mission. Understood?"

"Yes, Mitarashi-sensei," the three genin said in near-unison.

"Good." Kimi turned away. "Get your stuff packed, then."

A little less than an hour later, the Mist team was assembled by the gate of the Leaf training area they had been given to use to train in privacy. Outside the gate stood another team of four, and that team's jounin nodded once as she counted the Mist and unlocked the gate. "All present and accounted for," she stated.

Kimi laughed slightly. "Where else would we have gone… Suzume-san, wasn't it?"

The Leaf jounin nodded. "Form up," she snapped at her three genin. "Let's get these four back to the village."

"Yes, Namida-sensei," they replied as they moved into positions surrounding the Mist ninja.

Midori blinked as she studied the one of the two girls on the other team who was closest to her. "You're Mitokado Fuki, aren't you?" she asked quietly.

The girl in question nodded, no surprise showing in her dark eyes. "You're Mizuno Midori."

Midori grinned. "Haruno Midori, actually," she stated.

"Haruno?" Fuki asked, puzzlement clear in her voice. She didn't voice the obvious question, and Midori didn't bother to answer it.

Instead she just smiled again. "You should go ahead and skip the exam," she declared. "You won't be missing anything but pain."

From her position next to Saburo, Fuki's teammate Uzuki Ami snarled at Midori. "I don't know what you mean by saying you're a Haruno, but both you and the forehead girl are going down in the first round!" Ren rolled her eyes and Midori let out a bark of laughter. Ami glared at both of the Mist kunoichi.

"I'm going to fight you," Fuki declared before her teammate could say anything more.

"It's your funeral," Midori told her simply. "I intend to fight that silver-eyed freak and rip out his eyes, and a weakling like you is only going to suffer if you try to get in my way."

Ami growled at her, one hand inching toward the hilt of the short sword sheathed on her back. "I ought to," she began.

"Calm down, Ami!" snapped her male teammate, Inuzuka Shinta. "We'll show them what we can do when the time comes."

Ami took a deep breath. "Right," she said.

Kimi smiled slightly. "What a pity. This could have been interesting."

Suzume Namida glanced at her counterpart. "That's hardly an appropriate sentiment, Mitarashi-san." Kimi just shrugged, and Namida sighed. "I can see that you're Anko-san's sister," she muttered under her breath.

Kimi raised an eyebrow. "What was that, Suzume-san?" she asked, her voice dangerously light. "I couldn't hear you."

"Nothing important," Namida replied calmly. "Now, let's form up and move out. No bickering!"

* * *

**Day Sixty-three**

The morning sun beat down heavily on the desolate, rocky wasteland that was the border between the Bird Country and the mighty Wind Country. This natural defense was a large part of the reason that the tiny Bird Country had been able to avoid conquest or domination by its larger neighbor without supporting a hidden village of its own or relying on more aid than it could afford from the Earth Country's Hidden Rock. Even that aid might not have been necessary had it not been for the much less imposing nature of the border the Bird Country shared with the Rain Country, which had been allied with the Wind Country since long before the grand alliance between the Leaf and the Sand had been signed at the close of the last major war. Then again, had all its borders been so imposing, the Bird country would have been an impoverished, barely inhabited land.

Such matters, however, were far from the mind of Rock Lee at the moment. Far too much of his thoughts were on the prisoner his team had brought to this place, and not in the way they should have been. He could not forget that this Nagare had all but defeated him, though it was not that simple fact that preyed on his mind. It was the way the wandering ninja had beaten him, by using a poor imitation of the techniques of the Sand ninja Gaara of the Desert. Faced with that, Lee had frozen, and if Gai had not been there to save him - again - he would have died.

"They're coming," Neji hissed quietly and suddenly, and Lee grabbed at the convenient distraction from his dark musings. While his eyes were of course no match for Neji's Byakugan, soon enough he was able to make out the distant figures of a four-man Sand ninja squad. They hesitated briefly, then separated, three disappearing to no doubt scout for an ambush, while the remaining ninja made a direct approach on the unhidden Leaf ninja and their prisoner.

Gai checked the silent Nagare's bonds once more, then glanced at his team. "Be ready," was all he said.

The first thing Lee was able to make out on the approaching Sand representative was that he wore the uniform of a Sand chuunin or jounin. The second thing he noticed was that Neji was getting nervous, and when his attention returned to foreign ninja he saw that "he" was actually a young woman. Then Tenten snarled softly, and Lee realized that they knew this woman.

"I am Temari of the Desert, chuunin of the Hidden Sand," she stated loudly before she approached, then she blinked. "You," she said simply as she glanced at the four Leaf ninja, her voice neither friendly or unfriendly.

"Yes," Tenten said frostily.

Temari ignored her, slowly pulling out a small black book as she gazed at Nagare's unmoving visage. "So this is the one you caught, huh?" she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she flipped the book open to a marked page and compared the picture and data there to the prisoner. "Nagare of the Stony Waste," she said, grinning evilly as she shut her bingo book. "The interrogation squads back home will be… pleased to see you."

The captured Sand missing ninja said nothing. "We found him as part of a group of wandering ninja causing problems in the Bird Country," Gai explained.

"I read the message you sent ahead, Maito-san," Temari said. "May I summon my men to take possession of the prisoner?" Gai nodded, and Temari made a slight gesture. In an instant, the three genin under her command reappeared, and Gai carefully handed Nagare over to them.

"Neji-kun has been closing his tenketsu so that he can't escape," Gai stated. "You may wish to drug him before the effects wear off. He's mastered a variation on your brother's techniques, which makes him a little troublesome to keep under control in this environment.

"My brother's techniques?" Temari said, glancing at Nagare. "Maybe I'll give you to him instead of the interrogation squads. Gaara hardly kills anyone anymore, and he could probably use the entertainment." For the first time, fear showed on the missing ninja's face.

Lee swallowed slightly. "Is he here?" he asked, keeping his voice as flat as he could.

Temari shook her head. "The council decided that the new gentler and kinder Gaara of the Desert only needed one keeper," she said, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "He and Kankuro are off chasing sightings of strange ships on the southern coast.

"I see," Lee replied, half-disappointed and half-relieved.

"Now it's your turn to indulge my curiosity," the Sand kunoichi said. "Tenma-kun here," she continued, pointing back at one of her subordinates, "says that you were spreading stories back in the exam that that pink-haired girl on Uzumaki's team was stronger than Gaara."

Lee blinked. "I just said that Sakura-san's team had beaten him." He knew that Sakura was stronger than most would give her credit for, but Gaara was something else entirely.

Temari laughed. "I figured as much," she said. "Even you couldn't have taken that much leave of your senses. Pinkie was even more worthless than shuriken girl here."

Lee's eyes narrowed at the numerous insults in Temari's breath words, but Tenten spoke first. "I have a name," she said, her voice carefully controlled.

"Is that so?" Temari responded dryly. "I'm afraid our fight was over so quickly it didn't have time to register."

"Why you," the Leaf kunoichi growled, her hand moving the tiny distance necessary to hover over the hilt of one of the numerous kunai hidden on her person.

"Tenten," Gai said calmly. His female student took a deep breath and a step back. "As for you," Gai continued, looking at Temari, "you are a representative of your village and should act appropriately."

Temari snorted. "Whatever. Are we done?" When Gai nodded, she gestured again to her squad, and soon they and the prisoner were gone.

* * *

Yamanaka Ino was not feeling well. She knew it was entirely in her mind rather than some physical malady, yet that couldn't make her stomach settle. Less than a week ago, she had killed a man, Daimyo Chichiatsu of the Swamp Country. Or, rather, she had assassinated that man, which made all the difference. Killing was something that all ninja knew to expect, but in the Leaf Village assassinations were most often performed by the elite ANBU squads dedicated to the task.

Chichiatsu wasn't the first man she had killed. On one of her team's earlier missions, shortly before they'd taken the Chuunin Exam almost seven months ago, Ino had killed for the first time. Bandits had attacked the caravan they'd been guarding, and Ino's first wild swing of a kunai had caught one in the stomach. When she'd gone back to his fallen form after the battle was over, he had died from the wound.

That death had affected her, of course. Yet, she didn't think it had to this extent. That had been killing in the heat of battle, where it was kill or be killed. The man had died out of her sight, while she was busy fighting off his comrades. She had never learned that man's name or even whatever his gang called itself. She'd never seen that man's family.

Daimyo Chichiatsu she had killed in cold blood. He had been in his own daughter's bedroom, believing he was comforting the princess after a nightmare when he had only been writing his death warrant by confessing how he had betrayed the Leaf. She could have left him to be slain by her teacher, but instead she had taken matters into her own hands. More accurately, she had taken matters into his daughter's hands, killing him while still controlling the princess's body.

It wasn't even these bare facts that were making her feel poorly. What caused her discomfort was that, while a part of her recognized how terrible the deeds she had performed were and shivered in sympathy for at least the poor princess, another part of her felt differently. This cold, clinical portion of her mind merely observed that she had only been following orders and that the orders were even nothing to bat an eye at. The daimyo had only gotten what he had deserved for selling Kakashi out to the Cloud. The experience would serve as an object lesson for the princess, reminding her of the price to be paid for betraying a ninja village. Doing it herself rather than letting Asuma handle it was merely efficiency.

Nara Shikamaru sighed loudly, thankfully distracting Ino from her troubled musings. "Something wrong?" Asuma asked from his position at the head of the group, glancing back at his three students.

"We're almost back," Shikamaru stated, "and once I'm back they're going to have me doing troublesome things again for the third exam."

Now Asuma sighed, taking a long puff of his ever-present cigarette, but he didn't say anything. Instead it was Chouji who spoke. "It's almost time, isn't it?" he said.

Welcoming the distraction, Ino quickly began to count days on her fingers. "A week from today, I think," she said when she was done.

"That's not long," Chouji grumbled. "I lost a lot of time I was going to be training with my dad because of this mission."

"Hey, I trained you," Asuma protested lightly. "You'll do well, I promise. That goes for both of you."

"Damn straight I will," Ino forced herself to growl, though her words felt hollow in her own ears. "If Forehead can beat this Ren girl, I'll have no problems with her. Then I'll crush Forehead herself."

Shikamaru sighed again, mouthing "Troublesome," and earning himself a punch from his female teammate. Then, the forest path they were following curved and the open gates of the Leaf Village came into view. "Well, we're back," he said as he rubbed the sore spot on his face where Ino's fist had landed.

Something moved in the tree above, and all four ninja tensed as two more people jumped down to join them. "Well, fancy meeting you all here," Mitarashi Anko said happily as she walked over to Shikamaru, grabbing his ear in one sudden motion. "Now my laziest chuunin assistant won't be able to hide from me."

Ino had eyes only for the special jounin's companion, ignoring Shikamaru's efforts to free himself from Anko's grasp. "Sakura," she breathed.

"Ino," her pink-haired rival returned tiredly, blinking her eyes wearily.

"I have something I need to tell you," Ino found herself saying.

"Ino," Asuma said warningly.

"She deserves to know," Chouji said.

Sakura blinked again, a bit of life returning to her face. "What's this about?" Anko released Shikamaru, glancing curiously between the two rivals.

Asuma sighed, but after a moment he nodded. "Let's at least get inside the village first," he stated, and in a matter of seconds this was done.

"It's Kakashi-sensei," Ino said as soon as they were inside. "He's alive."

Sakura froze, as though she had to replay the simple sentence in her mind several times before it became comprehensible. "He's… alive?" she asked slowly. "How -"

"We were on a mission to investigate his death," Chouji explained, "and we found out that -"

Asuma cut his student off with a quick gesture. "That's enough."

"But," Sakura protested.

"Tsunade-sama will keep you informed," Anko interrupted her. "They really shouldn't tell you anything about the mission without waiting for her approval." Sakura nodded, but it was clear she was dissatisfied with the answer.

Asuma glanced between her and Anko. "What are you two doing together, anyway?" he asked suspiciously.

Anko made a slight wave of her hand. "Mission," she stated simply.

"Is that so?" Asuma asked, his eyes narrowing. He slowly took his cigarette out of his mouth.

Anko grinned cheekily at him. "I'm sure you understand that I can't really talk about it."

Asuma laughed, dropping his cigarette and casually stamping it out. "You have me there," he said. "Come on, you three. Let's go see Hokage-sama and make our report so you can get back to what you need to be doing." He began to walk off, and his team slowly followed him.

"Ino!" Sakura said loudly after a moment, making her rival pause in her tracks. "Come see me sometime. I know something about the techniques Ren-san will probably use."

Ino's eyes narrowed. "Why help me, Forehead?"

"Because I want to fight you, Ino-pig," Sakura stated slowly, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I can beat her without your help," Ino replied.

"Maybe," Sakura said, "but my help would make it easier."

Ino forced herself to grin. "All right, Forehead," she said, "but you better not lose to Ami."

Sakura snorted. "Not planning on it."

"Good," Ino replied, and then she raced to catch up with her team.

* * *

**Day Sixty-four**

The Hidden Village of Rock lived up to its name. Not a single ordinary building could be seen where the map said the Earth Country's hidden village lay. Instead, the village consisted of halls and chambers carved out of the numerous small mountains' living stone by the first Rock ninja using their then-secret earth element techniques. Underground tunnels connected each mountain in case of a siege. At the time of the village's founding, when the entrances were sealed there was no sign aboveground of any human habitation - a fact that had served the Rock ninja well when the Lightning Country had sent Cloud ninja to regain control of the breakaway provinces across the Gulf of Storms that would become the Earth Country.

In the modern era, no purpose was served by such deception. All the Rock's foes knew well the location of the village, and it was almost inconceivable that any foe could penetrate the impregnable mountain passes or bypass the Earth Country's powerful navy to lay siege to the Rock Village itself. Not even the victorious alliance of the Leaf and Sand at the close of the Great War had managed to invade the Earth Country proper.

Because of this, despite the plans of the builders it was now more than obvious where the Rock Village lay. The three mighty gates of the village were almost always open, and well-paved roads lead to each of them. Merchants' tents frequently crowded the sides of the roads, seeking the patronage of both the Rock ninja and those who came to acquire their services. Windows dotted the sides of each mountain, letting in much-welcomed natural sunlight to the interior of the village.

No such window graced the walls of this chamber, lit instead by flickering electric lights. Iwakuro Hojo, widely regarded as the most legendary living Rock ninja, was seated on a stone bench, his eyes closed and his hands clasped before his face. The three genin he had taken on this journey - after the events that had lead to Jiraiya's departure from this country they knew too much for Hojo to feel comfortable letting them out of his sight - were much less serene.

Yamakita Akira paced nervously in front of one of the room's two doors, occasionally muttering something under his breath. His male teammate, Gonkuro, simply stared at the intricate mural of the legendary Earth Dragon that decorated one of the other walls, but even with his eyes closed Hojo could feel his nervousness. The third member of the team, Mako, was seated beside Hojo, but her eyes darted between her teammates and her hands played nervously with the zipper of her open jacket.

She was the one who finally broke the silence. "Is Tsuchikage-sama going to be all right?" she asked quietly, as though merely posing the question might create some catastrophe. It was this that had forced Hojo to make the journey to the Rock Village, a sickbed summons from his elderly teacher, who had taken the title of Tsuchikage only when Hojo himself had refused it. Now they were in a waiting room outside his chambers, waiting for him to be prepared to receive them.

"How are we supposed to know?" Akira asked irritably.

"Tsuchikage-sama is very old," Gonkuro said without turning from the mural. "Even a simple illness could be fatal."

"Don't say things like that," Mako muttered.

"Then why ask?" Gonkuro returned, and the kunoichi said no more. Gonkuro snorted, and returned to his study of the mural.

Akira's pacing brought him near his male teammate, and he paused briefly, glancing curiously over Gonkuro's shoulder. "What's so fascinating?" he asked.

Gonkuro's eyes flicked back at Akira. "It's very well done," he said.

"Eh, it's still boring," Akira replied after staring blankly at the dragon mural for several more moments. Gonkuro didn't respond, and after a while Akira gave up and returned to his pointless pacing. Hojo made a mental note to schedule more teamwork exercises after their return to his estate.

A few minutes later, Gonkuro wordlessly turned around and walked over to Hojo, seating himself on the other side of his teacher from Mako Akira paused briefly, as though he was considering joining the other three ninja, but eventually he sighed and continued to pace. "How long are we going to have to wait?" he asked irritably.

Hojo's eyes opened a moment before the door did, admitting one of the Tsuchikage's attendants. "Tsuchikage-sama will see you now, Hojo-sama," the man said nervously. As the genin stirred, he added an "Alone."

Hojo nodded, standing and grabbing his iron staff, which rested on the wall beside him. He made his way over to the door, and less than a minute later he was alone with his teacher. Hojo set his staff aside again and squatted on a wooden stool next to the older man's bed. "You've looked better, Kazu-sensei."

The Tsuchikage, laughed weakly as he sat up in bed, but then the laughter turned into a brief, violent coughing fit. "It's time," he said simply. "I've been telling those idiots on the council I needed a heir for years now, but it's only these past weeks they've finally started to believe me."

"I could lie and tell you that you'll not need a heir for years more," Hojo said slowly. "I respect you too much for that, though."

"Hojo-kun," the Tsuchikage stated. "You know why I called you here. The village council has already approved it, and no daimyo will protest."

"I'm not young myself," the legendary ninja replied. "If I became the Thirteenth, there'd need to be a Fourteenth before too long." Hojo smiled weakly. "Besides, I told you before, I don't want the job."

"You think I don't know that?" Kazu asked irritably. "Hojo-kun, war is coming, and even an idiot can see it. In a day, the Leaf went from being the strongest of the five great powers to being the weakest, and it was always their strength that enforced the peace that ended the Great War." The older man snarled slightly. "If you don't take the post, the council will be deadlocked for years trying to decide between the youngsters, none of whom is ready for the job. The Rock can't afford that right now."

"Not when a new Great War could be beginning," Hojo replied softly.

"That's right," Kazu said. He coughed. "The Valley made some sort of deal with the Sound under our noses at that peace conference. They could drag the whole alliance into a war with the Leaf before the season turns again. Hojo-kun, the village needs you."

Hojo closed his eyes. "I'll never forgive you for this," he breathed. "All right."

"Good." The Tsuchikage coughed again, then rang the bell on his nightstand. In a matter of seconds, a medic had entered the room. "You're jounin-ranked, right?" Kazu asked.

"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama," the medic replied nervously.

"Then you can serve as witness so I can handle this before Hojo-kun runs away again." The old man sat up a little straighter. "I hereby abdicate the position of Tsuchikage and grant it to my appointed heir, Iwakuro Hojo."

The medic swallowed nervously, glancing at Hojo. "Iwakuro-sama?" he asked.

Hojo closed his eyes once more. "I accept the responsibility and title of Thirteenth Tsuchikage."

Kazu laughed. "I finally got you, Hojo-kun," he said. "Now go meet with the village council and leave me to my rest."

* * *

The hunter ninja, Orochimaru noted with mild amusement, was trying very hard to not show her nervousness. It made sense, he supposed, even setting aside the purely obvious reasons. He was, after all, from a certain point of view one of the most infamous missing ninja in the world, and such people tended to have rather low opinions of hunter ninja from any village.

Orochimaru did not share such views, however. He quite liked hunter ninja and still had fond memories of his time in ANBU's hunter ninja division. As allies, hunter ninja were exceedingly competent and reliable. As enemies, they were predictable and made excellent test subjects. The idle thought of experimenting on this particular specimen crossed his mind, but betraying the Mist made no sense at this point in time.

The two Sound ninja who had escorted the emissary to Orochimaru's throne room, deep beneath the current incarnation of the Hidden Village of Sound, bowed in unison. Orochimaru waved a hand through the air. "Leave us," he said softly, and his ninja obeyed with alacrity. "So, what message do you bear from your masters?" he asked the Mist ninja.

Orochimaru could tell the hunter ninja glanced at the boy kneeling beside his throne even though her smooth mask obscured her face. "Should we not be alone, first?"

The renegade Sannin let one hand rest on the boy's head and let a smile grace his stolen face when the younger ninja stiffened but did not protest. "He is my… apprentice," Orochimaru stated. "His ears are my ears."

"As you wish," the Mist ninja replied, though Orochimaru could feel her restrained curiosity. "We are moving on schedule. The Mizukage requests a report on your own efforts."

Orochimaru laughed. "I assure you, the Leaf's allies will not trouble you. The pieces are all in place, as was discussed."

"You are certain?"

"Of course," Orochimaru said. "If you want you can travel to Hill Country and see the Valley forces ready to tie up the Waterfall. The rest might take a bit too long for you to check, though."

"See to it that you live up to your commitment." Orochimaru resisted the urge to smirk at the fear in the hunter ninja's voice, and he knew that from anyone else she might have demanded much more in answer. "If you do not, the Mist will not rest until this country has been destroyed."

"I'm well aware of that," Orochimaru said dryly. "If I do plan to betray you, I will be certain the Mist either never learn of it or are in no position to carry out their vengeance." The Mist ninja tensed, and Orochimaru laughed. "Was there anything else, Hunter?"

She took a step forward, reaching into her dark clothing for something. In an instant, she was leaping away, a line of kunai piercing the stone floor where she had been standing. A blur of motion followed her, a rapid kick plunging at her chest. The hunter ninja exploded in a burst of water.

Her attacker paused, crimson eyes whirling as he searched for the real ninja. He found her perched on a wall, and she froze as she met his eyes. "Sharingan," she hissed. "So there was a survivor."

"Easy, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru stated, gesturing for the boy to return to his side. Stiffly, the Uchiha complied, returning to his kneeling posture. Orochimaru's hand briefly rested again on his student's head, and Sasuke shuddered under his touch. "I'm sure our guest is not so foolish as to dare attack me like that."

The Mist ninja slowly pulled out a scroll, then jumped back to the floor. "My apologies," she said. "I should have warned your… guard." She held out the scroll, and at another gesture from Orochimaru, Sasuke retrieved it and brought it to him. "These are the orders that were given to Yakushi Kabuto-san and his squads. You are not to contact them until the close of the initial operation."

A pointless protection - if Orochimaru had planned a betrayal, Kabuto would have known well in advance. "As you say," he agreed. He swiftly unrolled and skimmed the scroll, finding nothing that would hinder Kabuto's true mission. "I have no objections."

The Mist ninja's eyes, behind her mask, glanced between the two missing ninja. "He isn't your apprentice," she said, seemingly unaware she spoke aloud. "He's your next -"

"Be silent!" Sasuke snapped, his Sharingan once again activated and whirling. The hunter ninja took a step back, averting her gaze a second too late to be effective had the young man used a doujutsu on her.

Orochimaru only laughed. "The Mist are well-informed. Tell me, how did you find out about that technique? Is there a spy I should be looking for or did you find out through the Leaf?"

The Mist ninja swallowed, but then she seemed to regain some of her composure. "If you consider that technique's existence a secret, you should not wear another man's face to meetings like this," she ventured.

She hadn't answered the question, but Orochimaru hadn't expected it of her. "Kabuto-kun mentioned to me once that he'd like to compare notes with your spymaster in the Leaf Village, if possible," he said after a moment.

The hunter ninja frowned behind her mask. "That is not up for me to decide. Is there any message you would have me carry back to the Mizukage?"

Orochimaru only shook his head in reply, then summoned back the two Sound escorts. "Show our guest the way out," he said, and few moments later he was alone with Uchiha Sasuke.

The instant the other three ninja had left, the boy jumped up taking several steps away from Orochimaru. "What was the point of that charade?" he demanded.

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "Which do you mean?"

"Why did you want me to attack her?" Sasuke demanded. "It was obvious she wasn't pulling out a weapon."

"Because I wanted the Mist to know I had a pet Uchiha," Orochimaru said. Sasuke grimaced at that, but didn't protest. "A man who has something he wants is less dangerous than one with nothing to lose."

"So you plan to betray them?" Sasuke asked, a hint of something in his voice.

"Still have some feeling for your home village?" Orochimaru replied amusedly.

"No," Sasuke stated flatly, and his teacher chuckled softly.

"I plan to betray them, just as they plan to betray me. For the moment, though, our goals align and we both know it." Orochimaru smiled. "The Leaf will suffer."

"Whatever," Sasuke stated. "It's time for training."

"I am tempted to not train you today," Orochimaru said, "since you seem to already be forgetting who is the master and who is the student." Sasuke staggered slightly, clutching at his shoulder. "However, I shall be leaving on a journey soon, I believe, and will have to leave you to your own devices for a time." He stood. "It's best I ensure that you have something to work on, I believe."

"You're going to join the attack on the Leaf?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh no," Orochimaru replied. "If what I've heard is correct, I'll be going in the opposite direction."

"Why?"

"To pick up some tools," was all Orochimaru said in reply before leading his student out of the throne room.

* * *

**Day Sixty-five**

The Hidden Village of the Cloud was the largest and oldest of the hidden villages. Even more so than most of its counterparts, it had long since abandoned any pretensions of being hidden or a village. The Cloud Village was very much a city; in fact, it was the capital city of the Lightning Country. The Raikage was unique among his peers in that he did not owe even symbolic fealty to any daimyo; instead the various daimyo of the Lightning Country all gave their fealty to him. While this was not nearly so impressive as in the ancient days when those daimyo hailed from lands as far away as what was now the Fire Country, it still marked the Raikage as possibly the single most politically powerful man in the known world. Even the highest daimyo of many other countries could not match this unchallenged dominance of their often-fragmented nations.

The largest and most glorious building in this large and glorious city was the Raikage's massive palace. Larger than many villages by itself, the aging structure had been decorated with all the spoils of the empire that had once been governed from it. Situated high on the slopes of the tall mountain that had once given the Cloud Village its name, its marble towers seemed on first glance to be the highest point in the city.

This was because the only higher structure was actually almost on the peak of the mountain and was frequently shrouded by clouds. It was the Temple of the Thunder Dragon, considered one of the holiest places in the world by the followers of what was called in most of the world the "old religion" but in the Lightning Country was called the "true faith." It was there that a new Raikage could be appointed, there that Cloud ninja swore their oaths upon receiving their forehead protectors, and there that the fallen heroes of the Cloud Village had their memorials built.

Only there, in all of Lightning Country, did the Raikage not rule unchallenged. On those grounds, one woman - the High Priestess of the Thunder Dragon - was considered his equal and by some his superior. The First Raikage had held that title as well, but on his death he had named his daughter the Second Raikage and his son the High Priest, and since that day the two positions had always been separate. On occasion, a retired Raikage took up the mantle of High Priest or a High Priest replaced a Raikage who had fallen in war, but always they gave up their previous title.

The woman who was currently the High Priestess had, as was the tradition, abandoned her clan name upon reaching that position and was now simply known as Kaida to the few who called her by name. At the moment, she was alone - a woman as powerful as her did not need bodyguards, not here. There were guards all over the mountain, of course, but none traveled alongside her down from the temple to the ornamental gate far below that marked the transition between the temple grounds and the rest of the village.

The road she followed was long and winding, designed for the occasional ceremonial procession, and granted her much-needed time to gather her thoughts. Waiting for her at her destination, after all, was one of the most dangerous men in the world and a boy who carried a power that dwarfed even his and hers. While she doubted Jiraiya would attack her, the dread demon fox Kyuubi was not a force to be trifled with.

She none the less forced a smile on her face when the road turned and the open gate came into view. An instant later, she was engulfed in a crushing bear hug. "It's been so long, Kaida-chan!" Jiraiya exclaimed, releasing her slightly. "You're still as pretty as ever." Behind him, his escorts shifted uncomfortably at how they'd been unable to stop his reckless action, while the boy who had to be Uzumaki Naruto grimaced at his teacher.

"You're just complimenting me so that I won't electrocute you for copping a feel, you filthy pervert," Kaida said dryly as she disentangled herself from the legendary Sannin's grasp. "You never change, Jiraiya-kun."

Jiraiya laughed lightly. "You always see through me."

"Shouldn't you at least concentrate your attentions on women who were born within a decade of you?" Kaida's voice was acid, but she smiled at him. The guards were looking even more uncomfortable, while Naruto face was darkening even further.

Jiraiya pouted. "Most of them are all wrinkly, and the only person who could heal me from the aftermath if I tried anything with Tsunade-hime would be Tsunade-hime herself, so it'd take months for me to recover." Her pout changed to a grin. "Besides, you're only barely not within a decade of my age."

"Don't remind me," Kaida murmured.

It seemed as though Naruto had had enough, as he stormed past the guards. "Ero-sennin! Stop being perverted and get to what we came here for."

"Patience, boy," Jiraiya said automatically.

"Ero-sennin?" Kaida asked, a smirk on her face.

Jiraiya smiled back at her. "I'll beat it out of him eventually."

"Maybe when you stop being so perverted!" Naruto shouted.

Kaida turned to look at the boy, studying briefly his dark hair - dyed, of course - and his bright blue eyes. "You are Uzumaki Naruto, then," she stated.

The boy nodded. "Are you the sealing expert we're supposed to see?" he demanded.

One of the two escorts, who had cautiously been approaching the trio, barked at Naruto, "Be respectful! That's the High Priestess you're talking to!"

Naruto blinked in confusion. "High Priestess?"

Kaida ignored the question for the moment, turning toward the guards. "You have done well. Please return to your posts with my thanks."

The two Cloud ninja bowed in unison. "Thank you, Kaida-sama," one said, and they turned to walk away.

"Come with me," Kaida told her two guests. "It's quite a walk up to the temple, and we can talk as we move." Jiraiya nodded and followed her up the road, Naruto trailing after them a moment later. "How much have you told him?" she asked the Sannin after a moment.

"Only your name," Jiraiya replied. "He isn't much of one for lectures."

"I see," Kaida replied. "Naruto-kun," she said, glancing back at the genin. "My name is Kaida, and I am the High Priestess of the Thunder Dragon, which makes me uniquely suited to help with your… situation."

"How?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Like all my predecessors," Kaida replied, "when I became High Priestess I summoned and sealed within myself an avatar of the Thunder Dragon itself. From what Jiraiya has told me of it, I suspect your Fourth Hokage was working from some bastardized variation on that seal when he developed the one you carry."

"I can't quite diagnose the problem," Jiraiya added, "and Kaida-chan is one of the only people who might be able to help with it because of her experience."

"Oh," Naruto replied, frowning slightly.

"You have a question?" Kaida asked. The road turned, becoming a large staircase but not narrowing in the slightest.

"What's a thunder dragon?" Naruto replied, puzzlement in his voice.

Kaida blinked. "Don't they teach any history at the Leaf's ninja academy?"

"You have to remember," Jiraiya replied lightly, "that in that part of the world it's considered myth, not history."

Kaida sniffed. "Pagan."

"That reminds me, though," Jiraiya said. He glanced back a Naruto. "Boy! Don't try to summon anything while we're here."

"Why not?"

"Because all the spirit courts have agreements to not violate the others' sacred places, and this is an extremely sacred place," Jiraiya answered. It seemed obvious to Kaida that the boy didn't quite understand, but he nodded anyway. Jiraiya turned back to the priestess. "I'm sure it was taught to him, but like I said Naruto isn't one for lectures."

"I see," Kaida replied, taking another look at the boy Jiraiya had brought to him. It seemed odd, that such a boy could contain such power. "Listen to me, Naruto-kun. I'm going to tell you a story."

"You mean you're going to give me a history lesson," Naruto griped. "Everyone always does."

"I'll give you the short version then," Kaida said generously. "The Thunder Dragon is the one who taught the First Raikage the secrets of lightning element ninjutsu long ago, before any of the hidden villages were founded."

Naruto was silent for a moment. "That's it?" he asked finally.

"That's the short version," Kaida said as she reached the top of the staircase and the road once again became merely gently sloping. "There are a number of scrolls on the story if you're really curious. I can arrange for one to be loaned to you." Naruto made a face, but he didn't say anything, and Kaida's attention returned to Jiraiya. "You're late, by the way. I expected you almost a week ago from Hojo-kun's message."

"We ran into pirate trouble," Jiraiya answered.

"Those slavers?"

"Yeah," Jiraiya replied quietly. "They won't be a problem anymore, though."

"Good," Kaida said firmly.

"Because of that, though, Akatsuki's hot on our trail. We can probably expect visitors."

Kaida smiled. "Akatsuki will not be a problem," she replied. "Not here."

"I know," Jiraiya answered, then he gestured for Kaida to increase her pace slightly. She complied, and a few moments later there was a little more distance between the two older ninja and Naruto. Jiraiya continued quietly. "The problem has worsened since we left Hojo, though. The seals I placed with him have been broken and the manifestation is up to two full tails. Recently he became completely berserk. I had to physically subdue him and use an improvised seal to bring him back to his senses."

"He doesn't know?" Kaida guessed. Jiraiya shook his head. "I'll want a look at that seal," she stated.

"Of course," Jiraiya replied. "I made a copy. I'm trying to do some work to get it onto a tag that works from simple physical application, but it's being difficult."

"You're better at that sort of thing then me," Kaida answered. "I can probably sneak you into the library here if you need reference material."

"Thanks," Jiraiya said.

"I have no desire to see the Kyuubi unleashed again." Kaida grimaced. "Once was more than enough."

* * *

Hiraki Arata was feeling good. While his team hadn't been able to go back to the Waterfall Country to train, the Leaf had generously provided exclusive access to a training ground located not far from the embassy building where they were staying. The training had been going well, and Arata was confident he could win his first match at least. After all, his opponent hadn't even been a genin for a full year, from what he'd heard.

There were two reasons that Arata was particularly happy today. The first was that, finally, they had gotten confirmation that their old commander, Matsuyo Nissho, who was the closest thing they had to a dedicated teacher at the moment due to the Waterfall's recent shortages of jounin, was going to be able to attend the third exam. Because of this, the second thing that was making him happy had occurred. He had managed to get the other two members of his team to agree to take some time out from their constant training to go out for lunch to a restaurant he'd been meaning to try for some time.

Unfortunately, this had lead to the one thing that was causing Arata some anguish right now. "You have no idea where we're going, do you?" his male teammate, Chiba Ikkei, stated.

Arata grimaced as he pured over the directions he'd scrawled on a slip of paper. "I don't understand," he said, "I'm following the directions perfectly.

"Let me see that," Yuhara Maya, the third member of team, snapped, expertly snatching the paper out of Arata's barely resisting hands. She quickly skimmed the page. "No wonder it seemed like we were going in circles," she muttered. "Arata, you idiot. I can't believe you actually wrote down 'turn right four times' without noticing something was wrong."

Ikkei blinked. "These streets might not be on a square grid, but they aren't so twisted that doing that would make any sense."

Arata grinned sheepishly. "Do they really say that?" he asked.

Maya held the directions accusingly in front of his face. "Yes," she snarled. Her other hand went to the scroll she carried sheathed on her hip. Arata knew well that meant that she could have her naginata summoned and ready in less than a second. "Our next sparring session is going to be interesting, Arata-kun."

Arata gulped. Maya never used called him Arata-kun unless she was really mad. "Look," he pleaded, "there were lots of restaurants on that big street we crossed a little ways back. We can go there and find somewhere else to eat."

"Might as well salvage something out of this little excursion," Ikkei muttered. "I'd hate to have wasted all this time for nothing."

"We haven't even been out for an hour!" Arata protested.

"Not all of us are fighting fresh rookies in the first round," Maya responded archly. "Ikkei-kun and I have real fights we have to win."

"Fine, fine," Arata said, sighing. "Let's go then." Grumbling slightly, he turned around and began to retrace his steps.

A few minutes later, Ikkei spoke suddenly, pointing at one of the many nearby houses. "Hey, isn't that -"

"Oh, her," Maya muttered.

Arata's eyes lightened as he saw the pink-haired girl standing in front of a door. "She'll know where that place is for sure," he said. "I'll go ask her." He broke away from his teammates, running at the girl.

Before he could reach her, Haruno Sakura began to hammer loudly on the door. "Open up, damn it!" she shouted angrily. "I know you're in there, Mother, and I am not going to have snakes in my bed because you won't open the door!"

Arata swallowed nervously, taking a step back. He really did not want to know what this was about. "Maybe I'll ask some other time," he muttered.

Sakura spun around instantly. "You're… Hiraki-san," she said after a moment.

"Ah, yes, Haruno-san," he said nervously.

"What did you want to ask me?" the Leaf ninja asked.

"I… umm… do you know where Ichiraku Ramen is?" Arata asked.

Sakura blinked. Then she blinked again. "Yes," she said slowly. "You're really lost if you're looking for it." She looked over the Waterfall genin's shoulder. "Those are your teammates, I take it."

"Could you maybe show us the way?" Arata asked her. "I thought I took down Naruto-san's directions correctly, but…"

"You got… directions to Ichiraku from Naruto when he was in your country," Sakura said flatly.

Arata grinned sheepishly. "He made it sound like I'd be regretting it for the rest of my life if I didn't try it once while I was here."

"He would," Sakura muttered. She half-turned toward the door behind her, slamming her fist into it once. "I'll be back, Mother!" she shouted, then her attention returned to Arata. "Fine, I'll lead you there. This way."

Arata smiled widely as he rejoined his team. "Haruno-san will show us the way."

"Great," Maya muttered darkly, earning a puzzled look from Sakura.

Ikkei grinned. "Jealousy doesn't become you, Maya-chan."

The dark-haired kunoichi's stamped on his foot. "Shut up, Ikkei-kun," she growled menacingly.

Sakura's eyes traveled between the two, and Arata shrugged apologetically at her. "They're always like this."

"I see," the Leaf ninja murmured.

Flushing slightly, Maya released Ikkei's captured foot. "Let's get moving. We're in a hurry."

A few minutes later, the four were standing outside Ichiraku Ramen. "Here it is," Sakura said.

"I wonder why the directions were so bad," Arata mused aloud.

"It doesn't matter; we're finally here," Maya said, stalking inside and seating herself.

"Would you join us?" Arata asked Sakura cautiously.

The Leaf kunoichi's stomach rumbled. "It is lunchtime," she allowed. "Sure."

The owner of the Ichiraku's face lightened as Sakura entered. "Your usual, Sakura-chan?" he asked, and she nodded.

"You eat here often?" Arata asked while the owner took his teammates' orders.

"It's close to where I'm staying," Sakura stated, then it was Arata's turn to order.

Once this was done, the four were silent a moment, waiting for their food to be prepared. "So," Ikkei said, breaking the silence, "what can you tell me about this Rock Lee?"

Sakura smiled slightly. Then, almost simultaneously, the owner and his daughter set four bowls of ramen down on the counter. Sakura ate several mouthfuls before responding. "He's strong."

Ikkei snorted as he began to eat his own meal. "Care to be more specific?"

Sakura stared at her ramen bowl for a moment. "I suppose I owe you three for helping out in the second exam," she said.

"It was nothing," Arata said around a mouthful of ramen. He swallowed noisily. "This stuff is pretty good."

There were several more moments of silence, then Sakura spoke. "Lee-san is a taijutsu specialist." She paused. "He's extremely strong and very fast." She studied Ikkei for a moment. "I'd be surprised if he lost to you."

Maya laughed. "If taijutsu's his main weapon, he's going to have a tough time against Ikkei-kun."

"Maya-chan," Ikkei said warningly. "We're trying to get information, not spread it."

She rolled her eyes. "Right." She glanced at Sakura. "Did that blonde girl tell you anything interesting about the Mist boy? I know she fought him."

Sakura shook her head. "Just that he uses water element techniques and has good taijutsu."

"Drat," Maya muttered. Silence fell over the four once more.

"Aren't you going to ask about your opponent, Arata?" Ikkei asked finally.

Arata shook his head. "He's just a rookie, isn't he? He won't be a problem."

Sakura sniffed. "Just because he's a rookie doesn't mean he's not good."

"True." Arata played with the remnants of his food a bit. "Is he?"

"I don't know," Sakura replied. "I really don't know anything about him. He's from the Inuzuka, who usually use their dogs to fight, but he said that his branch of the clan had different techniques."

"Doesn't matter," Arata said, grinning again. "Whatever they are, I'll beat him."

"Modest, aren't we," Maya said, pushing aside her empty bowl. "Hurry up and finish eating. I don't want to waste any more time that I could spend training."

Sakura copied Maya's motion, then stood. "I should get back to training also. I'll see you all at the third exam."

Arata's grin widened. "It's a date."

"Idiot," Maya said reflexively, and Ikkei laughed.

* * *

**Day Sixty-six**

Mitokado Fuki was not normally an early riser, at least when she was at home and not on a mission. She had led her class in the academy in tardy arrivals - not precisely how her family and her clan had hoped she would lead her class. Since she had become a genin, Suzume Namida had successfully trained her so that she would arrive on time to even the earliest team meetings. However, it was a rare thing besides a mission or one of those meetings that could get Fuki out of bed before the sun had finished rising.

This was one of those things. Sure, her training had been going well. Namida was an excellent teacher, having spent several years as an instructor both for regular academy classes and for the special kunoichi training, and she had been working her team hard while they were guarding the Mist team's training ground. Between missions, her father had even joined them for a few days and helped her as well. However, a training session with Mitokado Homura, the head of the clan and a member of the village council, was another thing entirely.

Fuki frowned as she neared the training ground where her great-grandfather had told her to meet him. She could hear someone already moving about in there, and it didn't sound like an elderly man. Resting her back against a convenient tree, Fuki pulled out a slip of paper and double-checked the number on it. She was in the right place. Her frown deepened, her ears straining for some indication of who was using the training ground.

A familiar, female voice met her straining; a muttered, "Damn it," providing all Fuki needed to determine who was in the training ground. For a moment, she considered departing, but a little productive spying could prove quite useful to Ami. Quite possibly to her, come to think of it, however much she doubted she could defeat the Hyuuga prodigy in the second round.

Her hands worked through seals as she used a crude genjutsu Namida had taught her team to test their aptitude for such techniques. It wasn't much, just creating a simple inclination to not notice the user. Fuki knew all too well how easily this particular technique could be beaten, sometimes even by accident. A cloaking technique it was not. None the less, she jumped up to a tree branch and moved through the trees to a point overlooking the training ground.

Below, Haruno Sakura was sitting in front of a battered wooden training post, panting heavily. She'd been practicing some sort of taijutsu, then. After a moment, Sakura stood, walking over to a pack near the edge of the training ground a pulling out a bottle of water, which she drained in a matter of seconds. Fuki raised an eyebrow. Hard training, then.

Both kunoichi started, nearly in unison, at the sound of footsteps. Fuki stilled herself, while below Sakura slowly screwed the cap back on her water bottle and replaced it in her pack. Moments later, the man making the sounds walked into view, leaning heavily on a cane. Fuki had to resist the urge to snort. She'd seen her great-grandfather warm up in the morning on occasion, and he needed a walking stick to precisely the same extent that Sakura and Ami were best friends. In other words, not at all.

A strange expression flickered on Homura's face as he studied the girl before him. "You are not who I expected to see," he said after a moment.

"Mitokado-sama?" Sakura prompted when it became apparent the old man wasn't going to say anything more.

One of his hands reached up to adjust her glasses slightly. "No need to be quite so formal, girl," he said. "Haruno Sakura, huh?"

"Yes, Mito… Homura-sama."

"Good enough," the council member muttered. "Did you schedule your usage of this training ground?"

The pink-haired genin nodded. "Yes, Homura-sama."

The elder let out an annoyed "Hmph," idly tapping his cane against the dirt. "I was told that this ground would be available for Fuki-chan and myself this morning." Fuki considered making her presence known, but decided to stay hidden at least a while longer.

"I can leave in," Sakura began.

"No, no; there's no need to rush," Homura stated. "You're fighting… let's see, Uzuki Ami in the first round, correct?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes, Homura-sama."

Homura slowly made his way over to a bench on the side of the training ground and seated himself, lying his cane across his lap. "She's Fuki-chan's teammate, you know."

Sakura nodded. "I know. They were… close in the academy." A brief grimace passed over the pink-haired girl's face. A moment later, Fuki mirrored her expression.

Homura nodded, then looked directly at Fuki. "You might as well come out now," he said loudly, and Sakura started.

Fuki jumped out of the tree, landing beside Sakura. "Great-grandfather," she said in greeting. "Sakura-san."

"Fuki-san," Sakura's face and voice were flat. Fuki shifted uncomfortably. The other girl had more than enough reason to dislike her.

Homura's eyes flicked between the two kunoichi. "This is actually convenient." He gently pat his cane. "I'm not as young as I used to be, and my legs are bothering me at the moment. Haruno-kun, would you mind briefly sparring with Fuki-chan so she can warm up while I rest?"

Fuki frowned. "Great-grandfather, we're both -"

"If you fight each other, it won't be until the semi-finals, won't it?" Homura interrupted. "By that point you'd have shown each other much more than you will in a quick spar." He smiled slightly. "Haruno-kun?"

"If Fuki-san wants me to," the other girl said carefully.

After a moment, Fuki nodded. "All right. Just light taijutsu, though."

"Agreed," Sakura replied quickly, and soon the two were facing each other, positioned several yards apart.

Homura clapped his hands once. "Begin," he stated simply.

For several long seconds, nothing happened as the two kunoichi studied each other. Fuki's eyes narrowed. Sakura's stance was relaxed, but there was no opening in it. Fuki kept her own stance defensive. No point in making the first move.

Sakura laughed, gesturing for Fuki to come. "What?" she asked mockingly, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "Scared? Of little forehead girl?"

Fuki didn't respond at first. The other girl was trying to bait her, she knew. Slowly, she straightened, mimicking Sakura's gesture. "I know I've changed since those days," she said carefully. "Why don't you show me how you've changed?"

To her surprise, Sakura laughed. "All right," she said lightly. Then she vanished. Fuki reacted quickly, flipping away moments before Sakura reappeared right before where she'd been standing, already moving into sweeping kick. Fuki landed in a crouch, but didn't stay still for even an instant, pouncing at her opponent.

Sakura blocked Fuki's first blow with one arm, her other hand forming a fist and plunging at Fuki's gut. Fuki pushed herself away from the pink-haired girl, narrowly dodging the strike and bringing her foot up into a lightning-fast kick. Her opponent was faster, jumping away before the blow could land.

Fuki took a deep breath. It was obvious the other girl had indeed been working on taijutsu, and she could guess with who from the ugly orange warmers on her legs. If there were weights under there, Sakura would definitely be too fast to fight toe-to-toe in taijutsu if they happened to meet in the exam.

Sakura smiled. "Your turn," she said simply.

Fuki nodded. This was supposed to be a warm-up, after all, not a match. Taking another breath, she charged. Sakura sidestepped, but Fuki was ready for the move, stopping herself almost instantly and spinning into a kick. Sakura caught the strike on crossed arms, sweeping Fuki's other leg out from under her with a kick of her own. She landed lightly, pushing herself back up in a matter of seconds, but neither kunoichi made other further moves.

"You're pretty good," Fuki said after a moment. It was hard to believe that this was the same Sakura she had known in the academy.

Sakura nodded. "You're not bad yourself," she said after a moment, turning and heading back to her pack. "Would you like some water?"

Fuki nodded and easily caught the bottle Sakura tossed at her. "Thank you." After taking a long drink, she began to ask the question she had been wondering about for several days now. "A little while ago, I spoke with Midori-san, from the Mist, and she said -"

"She was a Haruno," Sakura interrupted, grimacing. "You know about as much as I do, Fuki-san." She paused. "You're fighting her in the first round, right?"

"Yes."

"She's nasty," Sakura said. "Don't look into her eyes. She uses some sort of doujutsu that'll take you out of the fight if you do." She shuddered slightly.

"Bad?" Fuki asked after a moment.

"Bad," Sakura confirmed. "She used it on me during the second exam."

Fuki frowned. It would be polite to tell the other girl something about her own opponent in return, but Sakura was fighting her teammate. She weighed her words carefully before she spoke. "Ami is better than I think you probably think she is," she said slowly, "but she's not as good as she thinks she is."

Sakura nodded. "I see," she said. "Odd that you're saying something uncomplimentary about her, though."

"We're friends," Fuki said defensively, "but I'm not blind. We'd have gotten into a lot of bad situations on missions if Shinta-kun hadn't controlled her."

"I see," Sakura repeated. "I should be going," she said as she picked up her pack.

"Good luck to you in the exams," Homura said suddenly, "and thank you for indulging me." He smiled slightly. "Incidentally, I understand that Maito Gai and his team returned from a mission late last night."

Sakura's eyes widened, and she bowed slightly. "Thank you," she said, and then she was gone.

Fuki studied her great-grandfather carefully. Somehow, she had a hunch that he had planned all this, but for what reason? Before she could ponder the matter further, Homura stood, leaving his cane behind on the bench. "Well, now," he said, "let's see what this old man has to teach you today, shall we?"

* * *

"There," Jiraiya said as he carefully laid Naruto's still form onto the simple stone altar. "He shouldn't wake up even for the end of the world." The room was surprisingly similar to the chamber under Hojo's estate where Jiraiya had only weeks ago performed a very similar examination. Only, in this case, if the wrong people spotted him it could be extraordinarily troublesome. Technically, it was the highest heresy for Naruto or him to be here.

"Excellent," Kaida said, stretching her fingers before laying several blank scrolls on the table and unrolling them to surround the still boy. "The sacrifice should go off without a problem, then."

Jiraiya gave the woman a flat stare, taking a moment to appreciate the fact that she looked almost a decade younger in the simple purple kimono she was wearing than in the stuffy formal robes of the High Priestess of the Thunder Dragon. "I'm in no mood for jokes, Kaida-chan," he said simply. He paused. "Are you certain we should be doing this here?"

"This room is specially warded in case the new High Priest's summoning goes wrong," Kaida said. "I'm not going to take any chances here. I've got no intention of setting the Kyuubi loose in the middle of the Cloud Village. In any case, the only person we'd have to worry about spotting us is Junhime-chan, and she's not in the village."

"Junhime-chan?" Jiraiya asked.

"My apprentice," Kaida answered. "You'd like her. She's cute."

Jiraiya grinned. "You know me too well."

"Indeed," Kaida said dryly. Then she grimaced. "I suppose this is as good a time as any to mention it."

"What?"

"The Leaf Village isn't exactly popular here, given what happened in the last war," Kaida began. "With things the way they are, there's a significant faction that's agitating for war with the Fire Country. If Junhime returns, it'll be a problem, since she's of course a major leader of that faction."

"Of course?" Jiraiya prompted curiously.

"Her name is Sinobi Junhime," was all Kaida said.

"Oh." Now that was a clan that was well known in the Leaf Village, if only for the unfortunate incident involving one Sinobi Gashir and the heir to the Hyuuga Clan shortly after the end of the last war. "Gashir's daughter?" he guessed.

"Yes." Kaida casually bit at her thumb, letting her blood fall into an indentation on the altar designed for that purpose. "Your turn," she said.

Jiraiya followed suit. "What will we do if this Junhime returns?"

Kaida grimaced. "We can't let her suspect anything. She's well-connected with the Raikage and would be able to force an investigation if she did. It's relatively well-known that I'm hosting you and your apprentice, but not just who your apprentice is. If it became known that the Kyuubi's container was here, I doubt many would want him to be allowed to leave. He's too valuable."

"Yeah," Jiraiya said flatly. "I'm afraid staying here is not in Naruto's future."

"I agree completely," Kaida said. "Now, tell me again what you know of Naruto's condition."

Jiraiya nodded, taking a deep breath as he gathered his thoughts. "Right. The seal is designed to simply allow the Kyuubi's chakra to be accessed by Naruto in times of danger. Instead, it appears to be allowing far more of the Kyuubi's power than it should to be released, and not in easily controlled form. In the dangerous state, the red chakra forms a physical shroud over him, taking the form of a fox. At first, it was only a one-tailed fox, but there is now a second tail and, well -"

"You don't want to see what might happen if there were ever nine of them," Kaida said dryly.

"Yes." Jiraiya let the word hang in the air a moment, before continuing. "At the one-tail stage, Naruto is still mostly in control of himself, though he seems to be affected by the Kyuubi's rage and suffers clouded memories in the aftermath. In the two-tail stage, he goes completely berserk, though there's no sign as of yet that the Kyuubi itself actually takes control." He grimaced. "You heard Naruto talk about his 'dream.' That took place shortly before he entered the two-tail stage, I believe."

"Stick to the facts for now," Kaida said simply, idly dipping a finger into the pool of cooling blood and stirring it.

"After each case of going berserk, Naruto's consciousness is drawn back into the seal along with the Kyuubi's power," Jiraiya continued, "leading to a coma. As of yet, I have found no convenient way of ensuring he will wake if he's allowed to reach this state, though in the last incident I was able to use that improvised seal to drain the chakra shroud without letting Naruto fall into the coma."

"I know Hojo and you managed to wake him before," Kaida interjected.

Jiraiya nodded. "I used a simple Five Element Seal to cut off the flow of chakra from the Kyuubi to Naruto," he stated. "Naruto began to regain consciousness, but then his own chakra began to attack the new seal. I than used another seal to contain his chakra, but it still tried to escape. I was forced to use the Evil Sealing Method to completely control it."

"Troubling," Kaida said.

"What's worse," Jiraiya said, "though I wasn't able to do any real tests, to all appearances, Naruto's chakra control was improved during the period these seals were in effect, despite the disruption caused by the seals."

"Very troubling," Kaida corrected herself, frowning.

"I wouldn't mind hearing your conclusion," Jiraiya said. "I'd like to see if it's the same as mine."

"The Kyuubi is a demon formed of chakra," Kaida said. "By letting any of its chakra out, you let part of it out." She frowned. "That's not the real problem, though. The real problem is that its figured out a way to let the seal work both ways. It isn't just letting Naruto-kun have access to the Kyuubi's chakra. It's letting the Kyuubi have access to Naruto-kun's chakra." She looked up at her companion. "Do you agree?"

"Yes," Jiraiya said darkly. "I was hoping you'd have an alternate suggestion."

"I wish I did." Kaida shook her head sadly. "This could be very bad."

"What now?" Jiraiya asked.

"Let me take a look at the seal," Kaida replied, pulling off Naruto's shirt. She frowned at the unmarked skin, then formed a rapid sequence of seals, muttering under her breath as she laid her hands on Naruto's stomach. A moment later, the black markings of the Fourth Hokage's seal rose to the surface. "So I was right," she muttered, "the centermost seal -"

"My student called the technique the Eight Divination Signs Seal Style," Jiraiya answered. "He used the Spirit Corpse Sealing Method to force the Kyuubi into it."

"It's a variation on the Eightfold Heavenly Divination Seal, just as I suspected," Kaida said. "I have to wonder how any version of that found its way into your Fourth Hokage's hands."

Jiraiya only shrugged. "I wouldn't know."

Kaida's attention moved outwards, and she frowned. "These are just a pair of relatively standard Four Image Seals," she said, tracing the two intricate semi-circles surrounding the spiral seal with one finger. "They should do the job nicely, leaving all the control in Naruto-kun's hands."

"Right," Jiraiya said. "That isn't the case, though."

"The easiest way I can see for the Kyuubi to get around them," Kaida said slowly, "is if Naruto-kun himself allowed it at first. Maybe not consciously, but the Kyuubi would need some help from outside the seal to gain a foothold."

Jiraiya nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I thought as much." Damn Orochimaru, and damn Uchiha Sasuke also.

* * *

**Day Sixty-seven**

Kiyomura Zeshin was on an A-rank mission, one that bordered on being a S-rank. A veteran of the Cloud's elite Storm unit, he was well-used to such missions. His time in Storm was too recent for him to have had the chance to go up against the Leaf's ANBU, during the war, but he was still responsible for the deaths of no fewer than five members of Storm's opposite number in the Fire Country. While he had no illusions of being a ninja on a level with the Kages of the five great powers, he knew that he was among the strongest of the Cloud's jounin. Even a high-risk A-rank mission like this was well within his ordinary duties.

What made this mission highly unusual was that he didn't need to leave the Cloud Village's boundaries. It was rare beyond belief for such a mission to be given so high a ranking. Then again, most missions weren't the type that no paperwork existed for and that could quite possibly mean his death if he was seen by other Cloud ninja. Zeshin, all things considered, much preferred official missions that came from the formal leadership of Cloud Village to this sort. He'd rather be sneaking into the Leaf or Rock Villages. Here, the very familiarity was lulling him into a dangerous sense of security.

He studied the swollen moon that hung in the unusually cloudless sky, noting that it was finally two hours past midnight. It was bad weather for sneaking about, but one didn't become an elite jounin by letting little things like that bother you. Taking one last careful look at the guards standing on the border of the temple grounds, Zeshin finished smoking his Fire Country cigarette - he wasn't the sort to let patriotism get in the way of enjoying the best tobacco in the world - and stopped leaning against the white stone wall surrounding the Raikage's palace. Waving casually to the guards, who returned the gesture, he headed back toward his quarters, only slightly down the slope of the mountain.

Once he was out of sight of the guards, after carefully checking for any other watchers, he bit cautiously at his thumb, drawing just a drop of blood. His other hand pulled out and unrolled a prepared scroll, and with one swift motion he drew a bloody streak across it. There was a puff of smoke, and when it faded a very different-seeming man stood where Kiyomura Zeshin had. Gone were the uniform and forehead protector of a Cloud jounin; instead the man wore simple, black clothing and a cloth mask, no signs of his allegiance visible. The little of his features that could be made out was nondescript, missing the scars and short beard of Zeshin's true face.

After rolling up the scroll and putting it away, Zeshin, made a rapid sequence of seals, then melted into the earth. The Cloud Village and the Temple of the Thunder Dragon, of course, had numerous wards designed to prevent infiltration by just this method. The Hidden Rock were the oldest enemies of the Cloud, after all. However, not all that long ago while he'd been recuperating from wounds suffered on a mission to Bear Country, Zeshin had been assigned the duty of maintaining those wards. It had been trivial to arrange a few useful loopholes for his personal use.

A short time later, Zeshin re-emerged from the ground just outside the temple itself. A few hand seals and a muttered word or two later, and he walked past the unobservant guard sitting near the main entrance without being noticed. Once inside, he kept to the shadows, though this late at night no acolytes walked the halls. His first step was the guest chambers, where he ascertained that while the guests from the Leaf were indeed quartered there, neither the famous Toad Hermit nor his apprentice were present at the moment. His sources were most likely correct then.

He cautiously returned to main hall of the temple, all his attention on a warded, closed set of double doors. His trained eyes caught the minute traces of recent passage, and he nodded to himself. The High Priestess and her guests were in the inner sanctum. That should have been the end of it, but Zeshin knew much that he was not supposed to know. He ran through the seals Junhime had taught him, then laid one gloved hand on the left door, which opened under his touch, revealing a steep staircase. He slipped inside, letting the door shut behind him.

His back to one wall, Zeshin slowly moved down the stairs until he could hear voices. Praying briefly that his genjutsu would remain intact, he moved to the ceiling and inched closer, until he could make out the inner sanctum itself. The high Priestess was indeed there, talking with a man who matched the descriptions of the legendary Sannin Jiraiya. Unconscious on the altar was a young boy who had to be Uzumaki Naruto. But why?

"Well, what now?" Jiraiya asked Kaida.

The High Priestess raised an arm to her forehead, wiping away the sweat. "I've used up most of my chakra doing this investigation. I haven't got the strength to try any new sealings, even if I knew which to do." Kaida smiled wearily. "Hojo and you proved that the simple method could only buy time."

"I'm not certain it would work again, either," Jiraiya said softly. "The strain on Naruto's chakra system might prove too much."

"And the consequences could be troublesome in that case," Kaida agreed.

Zeshin frowned to himself. Hojo had to be Iwakuro Hojo of the Rock. What was this boy, and what were the three legendary ninja doing with him? Clearly he wasn't simply Jiraiya's apprentice. He could only hope he got some answers before it became too dangerous to stick around.

"I think I'm going to take you up on your offer of the Cloud's library," Jiraiya said after a moment. "I want to work on improving that improvised seal of mine while you do some more studies on this end."

"Agreed," Kaida said shortly. "If we can't come up with a long-term solution, that seal of yours might be the only thing we have to keep the Kyuubi in check."

Only years of training kept Zeshin from gasping. Jiraiya had brought the demon fox Kyuubi here! That could change everything. Knowing he had the information he wanted, he began to back down the corridor, erasing all signs of his passage as he went.

* * *

The Hidden Leaf ANBU's dungeons were not a very nice place. A thoughtful architect had arranged matters so that the screams that often came from the interrogation chambers were audible over most of the underground complex. While the captive ninja were fed in more than adequate amounts, the food was usually deliberately foul-tasting mush, contaminated with drug cocktails developed by the Leaf's skilled medics to inhibit chakra molding while leaving the prisoners' minds unclouded. A prisoner drugged senseless, after all, could not properly appreciate the skills of Morino Ibiki's famed interrogation squad.

Tayuya of the Hidden Sound had worked in Orochimaru's dungeons before being chosen to become one of the elite Sound Five, and had seen far worse than the Leaf offered their captives. While the Leaf's ANBU knew few restraints, Orochimaru knew none at all. That hadn't changed the fact that the Leaf's ANBU were good at their jobs, and Tayuya had broken in relatively short order, able to only conceal tiny scraps of information from the interrogation squads. That should have been the end of it, Tayuya thought. She should have been executed or left in a cell to rot, visited only by the Hyuuga who kept her tenketsu closed, as she'd been rightfully judged sufficiently dangerous that drugs alone were not trusted to keep her harmless.

Instead, the end of her interrogation had been only the beginning of Tayuya's torture. The Leaf didn't call it that; instead she was participating in "medical research" aimed at removing or neutralizing her cursed seal. This had proved sufficiently painful that had she a shred less dignity left she would have begged to have a week of intensive interrogation under Morino Ibiki himself rather than one more session with the pair of women who seemed to have made her their pet project. The fact that these sessions were irregular only made it worse, as she never was able to mentally prepare for them.

When she heard the footsteps of two people stop outside of her cell, Tayuya knew that today was not going to be a good day. Her eyes still closed, she rolled over on her tiny, hard cot so that her face was turned to the stone wall. "Go away," she muttered half-heartedly, knowing it would do no good.

Outside her cell, one of the two ANBU guards clapped twice. "Good morning, Tayuya-chan!" he said, his voice sickly sweet. "It's a beautiful day today!" He laughed. "Not that you'd know that, of course."

The other guard spoke harshly. "Out of bed and up against the far wall," he stated, as though Tayuya had not gone through this procedure countless times before. She hated herself as she complied without hesitation. The second guard nodded in satisfaction, gesturing at his companion.

The first guard stepped forward, and even through his wolf-like mask Tayuya could sense him grinning as he studied the little of Tayuya's curves that could be made out through the filthy gray prison uniform she wore, as usual. "Why don't you just rape me and get it over with, you fucker?"

"Turn around," he said simply, ignoring the question and Tayuya again complied. He expertly bound her wrists behind her, then pulled her away from the wall, shoving her at his companion.

"Let's go," the other guard stated, and began to lead her down a familiar set of corridors to one of the interrogation chambers. As she'd expected, the two women she hated more than anyone were there. The first, who wore neither a mask nor an ANBU uniform, was called Shizune. She'd slipped up once or twice and given Tayuya the other woman's name - Anko. Something told Tayuya that she should recognize that name, but no matter how she strained she couldn't determine who the ANBU in the serpent mask might be.

"All yours," one the guards who had escorted her said, and then they left her alone with the two older women.

The serpent-masked ANBU quickly unbound Tayuya. "You know what to do," she said. Tayuya did indeed, and without protest she quickly stripped, laying her uniform on top of a wooden table in the corner of the room. Cursing herself silently for her acquiescence, she none the less walked over to the chains that hung in the center of the room and waited for Shizune to secure her in them.

This done, the unmasked woman gently pushed Tayuya's long hair aside, giving her a good view of the cursed seal on the back of her neck. Tayuya shifted uncomfortably as Shizune's fingers lightly traced the seal, then the several other seals that had been placed around it. "Go for it," Shizune said simply, taking a step back, and Tayuya stiffened.

The serpent woman replaced Shizune at Tayuya's back, working quickly through a set of complicated hand seals, then placing one hand on top of Tayuya's cursed seal. The seal began to burn under Anko's touch, even as Tayuya struggled to force it down. For several moments, she thought that the latest collection of seals might have worked, but then the burning erupted into an inferno of pain. Tayuya didn't even bother to try and stop herself from screaming.

The next time Tayuya was able to think, the two women were at the table, pouring over a handful of scrolls. "I really thought we might have had something there," Shizune said. "I'm not quite sure why it didn't work."

"Damn it," the serpent woman snarled. "All this time and we're no closer to figuring out a way to completely restrain the seal, much less remove it."

"At this point I'm not certain there is a way to remove it," Shizune grumbled. "Even Tsunade-sama almost killed herself when she tried it."

"I know," the other woman said harshly.

Shizune sighed. "Ideas?" she asked.

Tayuya managed to force a smile onto her face. "Maybe you should just give up on undoing Orochimaru-sama's work and just let me be," she said, trying to keep her voice mocking instead of pleading. She didn't really think she succeeded.

"Maybe we need to do some more basic research," the serpent woman said, suddenly striding over to Tayuya. "I wonder what would happen if you had two cursed seals." Tayuya's eyes widened.

Shizune asked the question Tayuya was wondering herself, a hint of horror in her voice. "Can you do that, Anko-chan?"

The ANBU kunoichi shrugged. "In theory," she said. "I've never tried it, but I know the technique." Tayuya shrank back from serpent-masked woman as far as her chains would allow.

"The conflict would probably just kill her," Shizune said simply.

"Well, yes," Anko said, "but the way she died might tell us something. It's not like we don't have a spare."

In an instant, Tayuya realized the implication of the woman's words. "You have one of the others," she said softly. "Who? That fat ass Jiroubou? Kidoumaru? Who?" she demanded, unthinkingly struggling against her bonds.

Shizune sighed. "Think before you speak, Anko-chan," she said.

"Sorry, Shizune-sempai," the ANBU replied simply. Her hands formed a seal. "You want to watch the cursed seal activate again?"

"Might as well," Shizune said. "Maybe I'll see a weakness we can correct in our seals."

Anko's hands blurred, then once more one rested on the back of Tayuya's neck. The Sound kunoichi had only a moment to tense in anticipation before the pain consumed her.

* * *

**Day Sixty-eight**

"I figured that you would be late, Anko-chan," Tsunade said as the famously psychotic kunoichi failed at unobtrusively slipping into the room and taking her seat at the large table, "but how did you manage to make Shizune late also?"

The Hokage's assistant, following the younger woman into the room, flushed slightly. "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama," she stated. "We were involved in a sealing that turned out a bit messy, and the clean-up took longer than we expected."

Anko seated herself between the other two examiners. "I told her that you'd appreciate the bloodstains, Ibiki, but Shizune-sempai didn't believe me."

Ibiki's nodded at the other late arrival, now standing in her customary position behind Tsunade. "Thank you," he said flatly.

Shiranui Genma glanced at Anko. "Do I want to know what you were up to?" he asked.

Anko grinned at him. "Nope," she answered cheerily.

The masked commander of ANBU, seated across the table from the examiners, favored Anko and Ibiki with a measuring stare. "Are you two maniacs up to something behind my back again?" he asked.

"Nope," Anko repeated. "Not this time. Totally above-the-board, cleared through the medical division's special projects committee. You even signed the paperwork."

The entire room could feel the ANBU commander blink. "I did?"

"As amusing as this is," Mitokado Homura said, tapping his fingers lightly against the rough wooden table, "could we get down to business? We all have jobs to do."

"Agreed," Tsunade said. Without thinking, she folded her hands in front of her face. "In two days, the third part of the Chuunin Selection Exam will commence. Mitarashi Anko, you are the appointed examiner for this exam. Is everything in place?"

"Yes," Anko said simply, her voice serious for once. "At least on my end." She pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of a pocket of her jacket, laying it on the table and straightening it. "All the examinees and examination board members from the allied nations are confirmed to be in the village. The arena has been cleaned and prepared; volunteers have been found for all the necessary support positions."

Utatane Koharu, seated next to Tsunade's place at the head of the table as befitted her position as one of the Hokage's advisers, coughed sharply. "Security," was all she said, but her meaning was clear.

It was the commander of ANBU who answered her. "Under control, Utatane-dono. ANBU will be on full alert."

Genma's ever-present toothpick twitched. "Forgive the question, but how is that any different from last time?"

"I have recalled and reactivated every ANBU I can," the commander answered. "Hokage-sama has also ordered all village defense units reinforced and on duty for the duration of the exam."

"It isn't perfect," Tsunade said, "but there's only so much that can be done." She glanced behind her. "Shizune?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Shizune handed Tsunade several papers.

"I have here the duty schedules and contingency plans for the day of the exam," Tsunade explained. "I'd like us to go over them and make sure everyone knows what's supposed to happen." The next fifteen minutes were dry and boring, but necessary. When it was finished, Tsunade pushed the papers aside and again folded her hands before her face. "Now, for the important part."

"Hokage-sama?" Homura questioned softly.

Tsunade grinned. "Bets."

Anko laughed, straightening from her bored slouch. "One round of drinks on the Mist team getting knocked out in the first round."

"This is hardly appropriate," Koharu stated. "In particular for you, Mitarashi-san."

Anko pouted. "But it's fun."

Tsunade sighed. "You're probably right," she told Koharu. "We can at least make predictions, can't we? Who's going to win?"

"Hyuuga Neji," the commander of ANBU stated as though it was obvious.

Genma shook his head. "No way. I saw him close up last time. He's strong, but he didn't have what it takes. He's overconfident, and someone will take advantage of that again."

"You underestimate his growth," the ANBU commander replied.

Homura adjusted his glasses, smiling slightly. "Neji-kun isn't the only person who's grown," he said. "I have every reason to expect that my great-granddaughter will not embarrass herself," he said, his eyes briefly flicking at Tsunade. The Hokage frowned slightly to herself.

Koharu, the only person close enough to catch the hidden exchange, frowned herself, eyes narrowing as she studied the two. A moment later, she spoke. "There's not really any obvious favorite. Neji-kun is the closest."

"Speculation is useless," Morino Ibiki said flatly. "If it wasn't, we could just name chuunin now."

"Agreed," Genma said. "Battles are unpredictable." He smiled around his toothpick. "Some are more likely to win than others, but not by that much. There aren't any obvious mismatches in the line-up this time."

"You're taking all the fun out of it," Anko griped.

The commander of ANBU coughed, standing. "On that note," he said, "as Mitokado-dono observed when we began, we do have jobs to do. With your permission, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade nodded, and the rest of the council stood as well. "Not so fast, Anko-chan," the Hokage said. "I'd like to speak with you."

Anko nodded, and stayed behind as the others filed out of the room, leaving her alone with Tsunade and Shizune. "What do you need, Tsunade-sama?" she asked.

Tsunade grinned. "I'm curious. How far do you think Sakura-chan will go?"

"Didn't you listen to Genma and that bastard Ibiki?" Anko asked, smirking at her. "I couldn't say."

Tsunade pouted. "Let me draw my own conclusions, then. How far did you get into your family techniques?"

Anko's smirk widened. "When did I ever say I as going to teach her those?"

"I suppose doing that would be too sensible for you," Shizune muttered.

"They aren't her style," Anko said. "She didn't have the chakra reserves for them."

"So what did you train her in, then?" Tsunade asked. "I would like to know so I can better plan her first lessons as my apprentice."

For the barest instant, a frown flickered across Anko's face, as though some new, troubling thought had just occurred to her. Then, she smiled again. "That is a secret," she declared.

Shizune's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

Anko laughed nervously, scratching at the back of her head. "I want to surprise you."

"Anko-chan," Tsunade said warningly.

"I… um… need to go check on some things for the exam," Anko said. "You know, stuff. Details. All right?" Without waiting to be dismissed, she vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Shizune," Tsunade said, "why do we put up with her again?"

The younger woman shook her head. "I was going to ask the same thing."

* * *

"Get away from my sister, you bastard!" Kitakami Ichizo reached over his shoulder, hand closing around the hint of the large crowbar of a sword he'd bought once they'd landed in Earth Country. He hadn't expected he'd need to use it here, in the borderlands between that country and the shrunken remnants of Snow Country, but he thanked all the gods that he'd thought to buy it. Much of his fighting style depended on having a good blade, and with Rui unable to use ice element techniques it was up to him to defend her.

His eyes flickered around the narrow inn room. It was too small for a fight, particularly against two opponents, but that disadvantaged his foes more than him. They'd be getting in each other's way. When neither of the intruders responded to his words, Ichizo tensed. The smaller of the two had Rui pinned against the wall near the room's sole window, her struggles seemingly futile. The other man was hanging back near the shattered door, too far away to react in time. Good.

Springing into motion, Ichizo had his sword drawn and slashing at the arm of Rui's captor in less than a second. His target reacted just as quickly, dropping the kunoichi and vanishing without even a blur of motion or cloud of smoke. He reappeared next to his companion, and Ichizo thought that he caught a hint of crimson in his eyes, mostly hidden by the bamboo hat he wore.

Rui scrambled to her feet breathing heavily. "Thanks," she muttered, one hand sneaking toward a kunai.

The larger of the two strange men laughed. "A swordsman, huh?" he asked. One hand flung his own hat aside, revealing an inhuman, shark-like face. The other casually readied a massive, bandaged blade that dwarfed Ichizo's own hardly small weapon. "I'll handle this one, Itachi-san, and let you take the girl."

"Don't get carried away, Kisame," the other man replied. "This little side trip won't do us any good if they die before telling us what they know."

"Of course," Kisame stated as he took a slow, menacing step forward. Rui's hands flickered, and two kunai flew at him. With a snort, he brought his giant sword up, deflecting the projectiles with ease.

"Come on, then," Ichizo snarled, tensing and tightening his hands around his sword's hilt as he searched for an opening.

"All right," Kisame said agreeably. Then he casually defenestrated Ichizo with the flat of his blade.

"Ichizo!" Rui screamed as the shark-like ninja walked past her, then leaped out the window. She turned to follow, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Knowing better than to turn around, she pulled out another kunai and blindly stabbed backward. Itachi easily stopped the attack, disarming her and capturing her hand. Her kunai flew to embed itself in the wooden wall, vibrating slightly.

"Where did Jiraiya-sama take Naruto-kun after leaving Hail Country?" the man asked softly.

Rui struggled to free herself. "I won't tell you," she declared.

Itachi broke one of her fingers. "Don't be foolish."

"A little thing like that isn't going to make me talk," Rui said, but she stopped struggling.

"I suppose not." The hand on her shoulder moved, reaching up to turn her face.

Rui flung herself forward, out the shattered window. Perhaps her captor was simply caught off guard, but Rui was half-certain that he let her go. When she saw what waited or her below, she knew that was indeed the case. The street was empty, except for her brother's still form and his victorious foe. Even on this cloudy night, there was enough light to see the crimson stain of Ichizo's blood spread over the light covering of freshly fallen snow.

"Sorry, Itachi-san," Kisame said apologetically as his partner landed silently behind Rui. "I got a little carried away after all."

"Did he say anything?" Itachi asked flatly.

The shark-like ninja seemed to ponder the question. "Do screams count?" Then he grinned toothily, letting the point of his sword plunge into the ground mere inches from Ichizo's neck. "Why don't you tell us what we want to know, little girl, and we might let you both live."

Rui swallowed once before speaking. "Jiraiya-sama… he said he was going back to Fire Country, to get the Hokage's help getting Naruto-kun to wake up from his coma."

"Is that so?" Kisame asked. "He's not very inventive, is he, Itachi-san? That's the same story he spread about when he left Iwakuro Hojo."

There was the slightest sensation of motion, and Uchiha Itachi was in front of Rui. The Snow kunoichi took a nervous step back as the infamous missing ninja finally removed the hat the shrouded his face. His eyes flickered open, and Rui gasped as her gaze was helplessly captured by the strange, crimson eyes. The three extra, oddly shaped pupils on each eye began to slowly whirl. "The truth," Itachi stated.

Rui shuddered, unable to tear her gaze away. "L… Lightning Country," she found herself saying. "They went to Lightning Country. I don't know anything more." Itachi nodded, and Rui collapsed to her knees like a doll tossed aside by its owner.

"Lightning Country," Kisame snarled. "That's awfully vague, and this little chase has put us on the wrong side of the Gulf of Storms."

"That's fine," Itachi said, turning away from Rui. "It'll give more time for our allies to find him for us."

Kisame laughed. "Can I kill these two, Itachi-san?"

"Quickly," Itachi said, and he vanished.

No matter how hard she tried, Rui wasn't able to force herself to her feet. "Please," she muttered.

"I like it when people beg," Kisame commented, stepping forward and raising his sword high above his head, "but Itachi-san wants this done quickly." Aimed at Rui's neck, his sword fell like an avalanche.

Halfway through, it was stopped by the armored arm of a toad as large as a man. Rui stumbled away, discarding the now-bloody scroll Jiraiya had given her. She managed to crawl over to Ichizo, grabbing onto his still form. The pair of Snow ninja melted into the earth, and then the toad vanished in a burst of smoke.

"Again," Kisame snarled, staring at where the toad had stood. "I hate toads." Grumbling to himself, he slung his still-bandaged sword over his shoulder and left to rejoin his partner.

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings

1) And that's another chapter. Yet again, relatively short, but still fairly long in the grand scheme of things. It also took me longer than I was hoping, but I'm still writing these much faster than anything I've written before.

2) Not much Naruto this chapter. There won't be terribly much of him next chapter, either, but that one only covers two days. Then Naruto's side of the story should start heating up again as we move into the penultimate plot arcs.

3) This is the last chance to enter my little pseudo-contest and make predictions about the results of the third exam. As a reminder, the match-ups for the first round are:

Hyuuga Neji byes  
Haruno Midori fights Mitokado Fuki  
Shimano Ren fights Yamanaka Ino  
Uzuki Ami fights Haruno Sakura  
Aoki Saburo fights Yuhara Maya  
Tenten fights Akimichi Chouji  
Hiraki Arata fights Inuzuka Shinta  
Chiba Ikkei fights Rock Lee

The brackets are in that order, so Neji will fight the winner of Midori vs. Fuki in the second round, and the winner of that fight will fight the winner out of Ren, Ino, Ami, and Sakura in the semi-finals, and so forth.

4) As always, I welcome any comments! Thanks go to the Eternal Lost Lurker and William Little for their helpful comments on the draft.

5) Next time, in One Hundred Days Chapter Eleven, Way of the Ninja: The third exam!

Draft Started: May 5, 2006  
Draft Finished: May 30, 2006  
Draft Released: May 30, 3006  
Final Released: June 03, 2006


	12. Chapter 11: Way of the Ninja

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 11: Way of the Ninja

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, panthercorns!

* * *

**Day Sixty-nine**

Uzumaki Naruto knew that he was not always as observant as a ninja should be. He'd heard that more than enough times from his teachers back in the academy or from Kakashi and his teammates after he'd screwed up in yet another training exercise. This wasn't to say that he was always unobservant, of course. Were that the case, he would have already died far more than a dozen times. It was just that, sometimes, he didn't pay quite as much attention to things as he needed to.

Despite this, he had noticed quite a few interesting things about his teacher, the legendary Sannin Jiraiya. Even setting aside the volumes he could write on the old man's perversity even though he still had only the vaguest perception of what that perversity precisely entailed, there were countless small habits and mannerisms of which Naruto had become aware. For one, he knew the way Jiraiya's eyes shifted whenever he spoke or thought of Orochimaru. He could read the nuances of the vast collection of sighs Jiraiya could produce.

Another thing he had learned was that Jiraiya rarely, if ever, totally dropped his guard. Even when he was sleeping, the Toad Hermit seemed mere moments from being ready for battle. Still, Naruto could tell when Jiraiya thought he was safe, notice the slightly more relaxed way he carried himself. Naruto had not seen Jiraiya like that since he had awoken on the ship to Lightning Country. Even now, the older man held himself like he feared some sudden attack.

That was not what was truly making Naruto nervous. After all, as Jiraiya had reminded him several times, they were in the heart of an enemy village. Even if the Leaf were presently at peace with the Cloud and even if they were under the personal protection of the High Priestess of the Thunder Dragon, that was no reason to completely dismiss the possibility of an enemy attack. No, what was bothering Naruto was that, while Jiraiya did not seem blind to the possibility of an external assault, that was not where the bulk of his attention lay.

As they had countless times over the past week, a thousand tiny details in the way Jiraiya held himself told Naruto that the older man most feared an attack originating from Naruto himself. Naruto, not being nearly so stupid as many thought, did not need to do a lot of thinking to know why that might be, not with the convenient gaps in his memories provided by his recent comas. He remembered all too well the harsh laughter of the Kyuubi as the two-tailed construct of blood and chakra had devoured him whole before the gates of the Kyuubi's prison. It was not hard to imagine what might have happened in the real world at the same time.

What had he looked like, Naruto wondered, when the Kyuubi had taken over? He liked to think that he would have noticed if he had turned into a terrible, nine-tailed beast of destruction larger than most buildings, so it could not have been that. But had he looked like Gaara, parts of his body twisting and deforming into a miniature imitation of that monster? Or, worse, had he just been himself, only filled with the Kyuubi's power and rage? How could he ever bring himself to ask Jiraiya those questions? Best to let his teacher think him cheerfully oblivious and hope that this Kaida lady could help him before he had another chance to find out the answers.

Jiraiya let out a sigh that meant he wanted Naruto's attention as he glanced carefully about the tiny garden nestled between two wings of the temple building, searching for hidden observers. Clearly finding none, he coughed once to ensure Naruto was listening, then spoke. "I'm going to have to leave you for a bit, boy," he said.

Naruto blinked. "Why?"

"I need access to a good library to do some research," Jiraiya explained. "The way the political situation here is now, Kaida-chan isn't able to get me access to the Cloud's main library."

"So what are you going to do?" Naruto asked.

"Fortunately, there's a secret library not too far from the village that's under Kaida-chan's control. They should have what I need there," Jiraiya answered. "It's not close enough that I can head back and forth, though."

"Oh," Naruto said. "What should I do?"

"Pay attention to Kaida-chan." Jiraiya smiled weakly. "She'll hit you with lightning if you don't." His face turned serious. "If anyone can help you right now, it's her. So long as you're careful, you can trust Kaida-chan at least as far as that goes." His eyes glanced around the garden once more. "Don't trust anyone else, though. Remember that we are in an enemy village and that the Leaf are not very popular here right now."

Naruto nodded, the motion reminding him that he wasn't wearing his forehead protector. Most of the priests knew who he was of course, but Kaida and Jiraiya had seen no point in him advertising his allegiance to all the people who came to the temple during the day.

"Be even more careful than you were at Hojo's place," Jiraiya continued. His hand suddenly reached out to rest on Naruto's stomach. "Whatever you do, don't let anyone but Kaida-chan know why you're really here. So far as anyone else knows, she's teaching you lightning element techniques as a favor to me. Keep it that way."

Jiraiya's tone was serious enough that Naruto answered just as seriously. "I will."

The older ninja smiled crookedly. "No accusations that I'm just going to go check out the Cloud Village's public baths instead of working?" he asked, sounding somewhat disappointed.

Naruto twitched. "Ero-sennin!" he hollered. "You better not -" He cut off as Jiraiya's hand moved again, rubbing the top of his head fondly.

"That's my boy," Jiraiya said. He released Naruto, who scowled at him. Jiraiya laughed. "Don't look like that," he said. "I have a present for you."

Naruto blinked. "What?"

"You have no idea how hard it was to get a copy of this here in Lightning Country," Jiraiya said, pulling out a folded piece of paper and handing it to his student.

Naruto opened it, staring blankly at the diagram and the names beneath it before realizing what it was. "This is who's fighting who in the Chuunin Exam!" he declared. For a moment, all his problems were forgotten as he studied the names. "Neji doesn't have to fight anyone in the first round, that lucky bastard," he grumbled.

"That's not really luck," Jiraiya observed. "It's one less fight he has to impress the examination board, and it means his first fight is going to be against a tougher opponent."

"I guess," Naruto observed, searching for another name. "Ah! Sakura-chan made it!" She was fighting an 'Uzuki Ami.' If that was the Ami Naruto thought it was, he really wished he could have been there to see the fight and cheer Sakura on, even more than before.

Jiraiya grinned. "Good for her," he observed, and for a moment Naruto thought that Jiraiya knew something about Sakura that he wasn't telling him. Then his attention was drawn to another oddity. "That's weird," he muttered.

"What's weird?" Jiraiya asked

Naruto turned the paper so he could see, pointing at one name. "There's a Haruno Midori listed here, but it says she's from the Mist."

"That is a little odd," Jiraiya agreed, "but it could just be coincidence."

"I guess," Naruto allowed, scanning the rest of the names. He noted idly that the genin guard he'd befriended at that Waterfall stronghold had made it. Hopefully Arata had given Sakura his message. He also noticed several names that were missing. "I wonder what happened to Kiba and Shino's team."

Jiraiya just shrugged. "I should get going," he said. "Kaida-chan should be ready to see you in a bit, so don't waste too much time here." He turned away.

"Ero-sennin," Naruto said. "Wait."

Jiraiya peered back at him. "Hmm?"

"Thanks." Naruto carefully folded the piece of paper again, slipping it into his pocket. Jiraiya just grinned at him, then walked off.

Naruto's hand fiddled with the slip of paper in his pocket, and he spent several moments pondering the question of how the tournament would go. Ultimately, though, there were too many names that he didn't recognize for him to make any predictions. Sighing, he decided to follow Jiraiya's advice and go to meet with the High Priestess. He got slightly lost heading through the unfamiliar hallways of the temple, but eventually he found his way to where he was supposed to be.

The acolyte standing outside the meditation chamber where he was supposed to meet Kaida nodded as he approached. "Kaida-sama said to go ahead and let you in, but be quiet. She's meeting with her apprentice." Naruto nodded back at the young man, who opened the door. Naruto slipped inside and the acolyte softly shut the door behind him.

It took Naruto's eyes a moment to adjust to the dimness. The surprisingly large room was lit only by a handful of candles, making the strange characters and arcane patterns painted on the cold stone floor even more incomprehensible to the Leaf genin. He could just barely make out the forms of two women kneeling across from each other in the center of the room. Kaida, who was facing the entrance, made a barely perceptible shake of her head.

Remembering the acolyte's warning, Naruto interpreted the gesture correctly and stepped aside, pressing himself against the wall and doing his best not to disturb the two women. The younger woman - Kaida's apprentice, no doubt, showed no sign that she'd noticed Naruto's presence. "It's good to be back, Kaida-sama," she said softly.

"I expected you much sooner, Junhime-chan," the High Priestess responded. "Was the mission more difficult than expected?"

"Yes," Junhime stated. When Kaida raised an elegant eyebrow, she elaborated slightly. "The mission parameters were changed half-way through. The new mission was a S-rank capture mission."

"Quite a change from an A-rank assassination," Kaida replied.

"A target of opportunity presented himself." Though he couldn't see her face, Naruto could feel the young woman grimace. "We lost more than half the squad capturing him, and then another transporting him here."

"He must be very skilled, then, to do such against your strength," Kaida allowed. "That still does not explain why you are this late, though."

"He is most impressive, even setting aside his eye," Junhime agreed. Naruto frowned slightly, something setting off warning bells in the back of his mind. Kaida's apprentice continued, "We were further delayed when we got picked up by a Hidden Sky patrol. They spent several days debating how it might jeopardize the alliance if we were to vanish inside their country and whether it would be worth the risk to get their hands on the famous copy ninja Sharingan Kakashi."

Naruto didn't even pause to think, but even if he had it wouldn't have changed his next action in even the slightest. He snarled, not noticing his teeth lengthening and sharpening or the rapid growth of his fingernails into inhuman claws. Red chakra flickered around him, and he was just as oblivious to it as to the physical changes. Instantly noting the explosion of power behind her, Junhime was on her feet in an instant, whirling about to face Naruto with kunai in one hand. Her eyes widened slightly. "You're -" she began, only to cut off as Naruto snarled again.

"Oh dear," Kaida muttered, not stirring from her kneeling posture.

The scarlet chakra began to thicken around Naruto, and he noticed it for the first time. With an effort of will, he forced it to disperse back into a faint flicker, though none of the changes his body had gone through reversed themselves. "What did you do to Kakashi-sensei?" Anger and menace filled every word.

The door to the mediation chamber burst open, two robed acolytes rushing in. One reacted quickly to the sight that awaited him, hands flickering through seals. "Raiton: Hand of Thunder!" One open palm darted at Naruto's back, electricity crackling around it.

Reacting almost on its own, Naruto's hand reached back, grabbing the acolyte's wrist. Crimson chakra flared briefly, drowning out the energy of the man's technique. He twisted uncomfortably, the chakra obviously painful to him. "Answer me," Naruto snarled, his eyes never leaving Junhime.

Junhime's cold blue eyes studied him. "A Leaf ninja, here. It seems I have been away too long, Kaida-sama." Her hand tightened around the hilt of her kunai.

"Don't be foolish, Junhime-chan," Kaida chided. "He is my guest." Her eyes flicked to Naruto. "Release him, please. He was only trying to protect me."

Naruto dropped the acolyte's hand, and the man stumbled back to rejoin his companion. "I want an answer," he repeated.

"Fine," Junhime stated. "I'll give you one. I captured Hatake Kakashi and brought him here. He's now in the hands of the medical division here and they'll study him until they're certain they can safely transplant the Sharingan. Then, if I'm lucky I'll get the eye, and if you're lucky we'll trade him back to the Leaf." She smiled. "Please do try to change his fate, little boy. I'd love to have you take yourself out from under Kaida-sama's protection that way."

Naruto snarled, almost lunging at the woman, but he managed to restrain himself. Slowly relaxing, he still glared at her even as his eyes changed from crimson to blue and the rest of his body returned to normal. "If he's hurt, I will find some way to make you pay," he stated harshly, "and you'd better believe it. I don't go back on my word."

Junhime snorted, ignoring him and glaring back at her mistress. "And you had best believe that the appropriate authorities will learn just what you're sheltering here, Kaida-sama." Naruto swallowed nervously as the implication of her choice of words settled in.

"I would expect no less from you, Junhime-chan," Kaida murmured. "You have the rest of today and tomorrow off to recover from your mission, but your lessons will resume after that."

Junhime nodded. "Of course, Kaida-sama," she said, her voice strangely respectful again. Turning back to face the High Priestess and bowing, she continued, "By your leave?"

Kaida nodded, and her apprentice left, not even glancing at Naruto as she passed. "Kaida-sama?" one of the acolytes prompted.

"You may leave also," Kaida said, "and please get that wrist looked at." Once they were alone, she gave Naruto a long look, sighing. "I see Jiraiya-kun was right when he said you had problems with control."

Naruto seated himself where Junhime had knelt minutes before. "Kakashi-sensei is my teacher," was all he said.

"I see," Kaida stated. "I will do what I can for him, Naruto-kun, but please do not try anything just yet. That will only make it more difficult." After a long moment, Naruto nodded and the High Priestess continued. "I'm afraid that after that I'm going to have to ask you to agree to some restrictions on your movements for your own safety." She paused. "If I can find men I can trust, you will be under constant guard as well."

Naruto frowned, but he eventually said, "All right."

"Very well, then," Kaida said. "Let us put that aside for the moment. Shall we begin?"

* * *

**Day Seventy**

The arena was loud. Even now, almost an hour before the first match was scheduled to begin, the stands were packed with hundreds of observers from all over the allied nations and beyond. Vendors moved up and down the broad stairways, hawking their overpriced wares. It was a shame that none of them would ever even consider daring the guarded passageway's that lead to the Kages' platform at the top of the arena, because Tsunade could have really used a drink.

She'd never been to a chuunin exam like this. When she'd been a young girl, there hadn't been such a thing. The rank of chuunin was awarded after a series of informal tests, given to individual candidates at the Second Hokage's personal discretion. That had served the then-smaller village well. Tsunade had actually helped to set up some of the Hidden Leaf's first formal Chuunin Selection Exams, but those had been nothing like the spectacle of today's exams. The exams had continued to become more and more formal and public over the years, accelerating once they had became inter-village events. Even as late as when she had left the Leaf, though, the finals had still been barred to civilians.

Tsunade sighed as she settled into the fairly uncomfortable throne, then sighed again as she felt Shizune's worried glance. "I'm fine, Shizune," she said.

After a moment, her student nodded. "I should probably be going," the younger woman said, a hint of wistfulness in her voice.

"I'm sure Anko-chan will tell you all about it," Tsunade said. "I need somebody I can trust to do things right commanding the defenses."

"I know," Shizune answered. She fiddled with one of the scroll pouches on the uniform armored jacket she was wearing. "I'll do my best." She bowed slightly, then vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Tsunade alone on the high platform.

Tsunade glanced at the empty throne several paces from her own. Traditionally, the Kazekage would be seated there, but at the moment there was no Kazekage. There were no Sand ninja in the finals, besides, so it was unlikely that he or she would have attended anyway. That being the case, Tsunade had felt free to bend the traditions a little bit and invite a few guests to sit with her. If she had to be stuck in a seat with such an awful view of the action, she was going to have some company.

The first of her guests to arrive were her advisers, who came together. "Tsunade-sama," Utatane Koharu said as she drew near, giving a shallow bow. "Thank you for the invitation."

"Likewise," Mitokado Homura murmured.

Tsunade waved her hand at the chairs she'd ordered placed on the platform. "Have a seat," she said.

Homura seated himself next to Tsunade, then Koharu sat next to him. "There should be many interesting fights this time," Koharu observed after a moment.

"I certainly hope so," Tsunade said. "I'd hate to have to sit out here all day to be bored. I get enough of that in the office."

"Despite being… interrupted, the last exams set a high standard," Homura observed. "Still, I think we're in for a good tournament this time." He glanced sideways at the Hokage. "I expect to be impressed by Haruno Sakura's matches, for one."

Tsunade sighed. "You know?"

"You weren't exactly subtle," Koharu observed, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"The way you spoke to me about your soon-to-be apprentice," Homura elaborated, "it had to be either Fuki-chan or Haruno." He snorted. "Our Haruno, that is. It wasn't hard to figure out the answer to, given how you had Shizune tracing her history."

"I suppose," Tsunade mumbled. "Your reaction isn't what I would have expected."

"I'm not an evil man," Homura said. "I wish her nothing but the best." He shook his head slightly. "That's one of the reasons I didn't want to acknowledge her as Takeru's daughter. Mitokado Sakura would not have had a happy life, I fear."

"I suppose," Tsunade allowed.

For a long moment, the three old ninja were silent. Then Homura spoke again. "She doesn't know, I take it."

"I haven't told her," Tsunade stated simply. "Sakura-chan has enough family problems at the moment without adding this to them."

"This Haruno Midori," Koharu agreed.

"She and my… and Fuki-chan have the first fight, I believe," Homura commented.

"You think your great-granddaughter can win?" Tsunade asked.

"Perhaps," Homura stated. Then he smiled, a twinkle in his eye. "I'd feel more confident if I could get you to lay a wager against her, though."

"Oh, shut up," Tsunade grumbled. "Shizune would kill me if I bet on anybody, anyway."

"I'm starting to think we should have just skipped the middle-woman and just made Shizune-chan Hokage directly," Koharu stated dryly.

Tsunade mock-growled at the older woman, but any further conversation was halted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Tsunade glanced sideways to see a young man in a Waterfall uniform. The man bowed deeply. "Hokage-sama, I am Matsuyo Nissho, jounin of the Hidden Waterfall. I thank you for the invitation to watch the matches with you."

Tsunade waved a hand at one of the two empty chairs. "Have a seat; there's no need to be formal."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Nissho said as he followed Tsunade's advice. He grinned slightly. "You are as beautiful as Jiraiya-sama described."

Tsunade blinked. "You know Jiraiya?"

"We met briefly in Waterfall Country a couple of months ago," Nissho stated. "He stumbled across one of our hidden bases while trying to evade the Valley."

"I see," Tsunade said. "I take it that it is your team competing, since you were chosen to be the Waterfall's representative."

"More or less," Nissho said. "It's complicated."

Before Tsunade could respond, the last of her guests arrived. Unlike the others, Mitarashi Kimi came escorted by two grim ANBU guards. "Hokage-sama," she said in greeting, a hint of mockery in her voice as she bowed.

Tsunade nodded her head. "Mitarashi-san." Unlike the previous times she had seen the Mist jounin, Kimi was wearing the uniform of her village. "Please, be seated."

"Thank you," Kimi said, smiling politely at Nissho as she seated herself next to him.

The noise of the crowd suddenly redoubled in intensity, and Tsunade glanced down at the arena floor far below. The fighters had taken the field, standing in a rough line facing the stands. Mitarashi Anko stood beside them, grinning widely as she waited for the cheering to die down enough that she could make herself heard to the genin. Tsunade shifted in her seat.

The third part of the Hidden Village of the Leaf's Chuunin Selection Exam was about to begin.

* * *

The roar of the crowd was deafening, and Mitarashi Anko felt herself grinning widely as her gaze swept the line of genin standing beside her. The third exam might not be quite as fun to run as the second, but it did have its moments. Her grin widened as she noted to herself just how easy it was to tell that Hyuuga Neji was the only one of the genin who had ever been in this situation before. The others were all looking around in something very much like awe. 

Almost having to shout to make herself heard over the noise of the spectators, Anko told the young ninja, "You all had better give them a good show." She licked her lips, noting that the crowd had begun to quiet as they noticed her speaking. "I want to see plenty of blood." Anko smiled slightly at disgusted looks several of the genin gave her, then pulled out and unfolded a slip of paper. "In case any of you are morons, I'm supposed to show you who you'll be fighting again. There haven't been any changes.

"The rules are simple. You fight until one of you is no longer able to fight or yields. However, if I believe the match to be over, I will step in and end it. If you continue to fight after that, you can and will be disqualified and the match awarded to your opponent. Understood?" The genin all made noises or gestures of agreement, and Anko took a step back, returning the schedule of fights to her pocket. "Then let's get this thing started." Raising her hand, she gestured to Tsunade far above, who rose from her seat and began to welcome the visitors to the exam. Anko didn't pay any attention to the words, but the sudden roar of the crowd told her when Tsunade's speech was over.

"The first fight will be between Haruno Midori and Mitokado Fuki." The named kunoichi stiffened slightly. Anko cracked her knuckles. "The rest of you should go back to the waiting room." She waved vaguely in the direction of the stairs leading off the arena floor. Slowly, the other genin began to walk off, while Anko positioned the fighters the requisite handful of paces apart in the center of the arena, before taking her place between them.

Haruno Midori grinned. "Last chance," she said. "Back down now and you won't get hurt."

"I told you before," Fuki answered, "I'm going to fight you. I haven't come this far just to give up."

"Your mistake," was all Midori said in reply, falling into a ready stance. An instant later, Fuki followed suit, and Anko noted that she carefully kept her eyes off of Midori's.

Judging that the time was right, Anko activated a technique to amplify her voice so that it could be heard throughout the arena, even though she spoke only slightly more loudly than usual. "The first match," she stated, then waited a moment for the echoes to die down. In an instant, the crowd hushed itself almost completely. "The Hidden Mist's Haruno Midori against the Hidden Leaf's Mitokado Fuki… begin!"

The crowd roared and silenced itself once more, but neither fighter stirred. Anko nodded slightly to herself. They were both playing it safe, searching for any weaknesses in the other's stance rather than blindly charging in. She'd thought her sister's student had seemed overconfident enough to play into Fuki's hands like that, but Midori was proving to have at least a little caution despite her bravado.

Slowly, taking advantage of Fuki's slightly averted gaze, Midori began to surreptitiously ready shuriken in one hand. A shifting of Fuki's feet betrayed the fact that she noticed, even as behind her back the Leaf kunoichi prepared her own weapons. As though they had been signaled, the fighters simultaneously released their shuriken, then leapt away from their opponent's attack.

As she landed, Midori pulled out a kunai, charging before Fuki could prepare any defense. Fuki flipped away from the green-eyed girl, throwing a handful of smoke bombs to hide her retreat. As Midori burst from the clouds of thick black smoke, a trio of kunai flew at her. Midori expertly parried each of them, then tossed her own kunai at Fuki. The blade pierced her chest, then she vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Replication Technique," Midori snarled. "Where are you, then?" It took her only moments to locate her opponent, perched in one of the cluster of trees near one the far wall of the arena. "Hiding won't help you," the Mist kunoichi stated as she slowly advanced.

"Who said I was hiding?" Fuki returned, reaching up to pull down a handful of green leaves from the tree.

Midori stopped, falling rapidly into a defensive stance. "What are you up to?"

Fuki released the leaves, which began to flutter slowly to the ground. Her hands flickered through seals. "Leaf Shuriken Technique!" she shouted, and the falling leaves suddenly began to fly through the air as straight and true as any real shuriken. Midori darted and weaved, a kunai appearing in her hands and shredding a number of leaves that came too close, yet one leaf managed to penetrate her defense, leaving a crimson line across one cheek. "That's what I'm up to," Fuki stated as she reached for another handful of leaves.

The watching crowd erupted into loud cheers. No surprise, Anko thought. While there were likely a handful of visitors from farther away, the vast majority of the crowd were from the Leaf Village and most of the rest were from the other allied nations. All of those would be rooting against the Mist kunoichi. While they weren't at war at the moment, all the allied nations had fought the Mist in living memory.

Breathing heavily, Midori pulled out a small flask of water. "You aren't the only one with that sort of technique," she observed as she opened the flask and flung it spinning into the air, spraying water. As soon as the container left her hands, they began to form seals. "Water Shuriken Technique!" Bullets of water formed in midair, flying straight at Fuki.

The other kunoichi once more released her leaves, this time forming a longer sequence of seals. "Shield of Leaves!" More leaves fell from the tree to join the ones Fuki had thrown, formed a whirling barrier that perfectly blocked Midori's attack. As the leaves once more began to fall naturally, Fuki scanned the arena floor for her opponent. "Where are you?" she muttered.

"Right here," Midori answered as she landed behind Fuki on the tree branch. The Mist ninja's fist flew at the back of Fuki's head. Fuki half-turned to block the strike, then leapt away, landing lightly in the branches of another tree. "Running away?" Midori asked mockingly as she readied a kunai.

Fuki's hands moved through seals. "Of course not," she stated, her hands freezing on the last seal. "Leaf Shuriken Technique!" All around Midori, green leaves, loosened by Fuki earlier, detached themselves from the tree. Midori barely had time to recognize the danger before the storm of razor-sharp foliage descended on her. "Got you," Fuki stated, forming a fist and grinning in victory.

Midori's form dissolved into water. Reluctantly, Anko nodded in admiration. The Water Shuriken Technique had been used only to get enough water near Fuki to create a water replication. The clone had been used as a decoy to keep the Leaf kunoichi busy while the real Midori got herself into position. It was a clever strategy, Anko had to admit as she searched for the hidden Midori. Her eyes fell on what seemed like an empty branch. There she was.

Fuki, not being nearly so observant as the special jounin, was still looking on the arena floor for her opponent when a thrown kunai, aimed at her heart, seemed to appear out of midair. Fuki noticed the attack just in time, using the Replacement Technique to leave a thick branch behind to 'die' in her place. Reappearing on top of one tree, Fuki bit worriedly at her lip. "A cloaking genjutsu?" A calculating look appeared on her face as she obviously attempted to work out Midori's position from the angle of the attack.

Midori, of course, knew this, and wasn't staying still. Moving closer to the trees to get a better look at the fight, Anko silently willed Fuki to notice the slight shuffling of leaves and distortion in the air that betrayed Midori's path. Despite her pleas, the seemingly oblivious Fuki managed to once more present her back to Midori. Slowly, cautiously, the Mist kunoichi drew nearer to deliver a killing strike.

Then, Anko grinned. An instant later, a massive explosion engulfed the tree Midori was standing on as she stepped too close to the explosive tag Fuki had placed. Fuki had clearly decided that she couldn't see through Midori's genjutsu, so instead she had maneuvered Midori into a trap by presenting a too-tempting vulnerability. Unfortunately, it Midori had noticed the tag quickly enough to use the Replacement Technique to escape the explosion, but now her cloaking technique was disrupted. She stood, plainly visible, on the ground facing the trees.

After a moment, Fuki landed before her opponent, surrounded by gently falling leaves knocked from their places by the explosion. "It's over," she stated as for the third time she formed the seals for the Leaf Shuriken Technique, her eyes still carefully averted from Midori.

"You're right," Midori's voice came from the empty air beside Fuki. "It is over." The visible Midori vanished in a puff of smoke, and Anko's eyes widened slightly. Midori was very fast with her cloaking technique, if the Mist girl had managed to get it up again and create a replication before either the examiner herself or Fuki had noticed.

Fuki started, but wasn't able to avert her eyes quickly enough as the real Midori dropped her genjutsu. The Mist kunoichi's hands had already formed a seal. "Haruno Ninpou: Gaze of Binding," she stated as her green eyes met Fuki's. Helplessly, Fuki struggled to move, but it was clear that she was almost completely paralyzed. "Since you knew not to look in my eyes," Midori said softly, "I suspect that pink-haired bitch told you about the Gaze of Torment. If not, the name should be enough. Yield now, and I won't have to use it."

Slowly, straining against the force of Midori's technique, Fuki nodded. In an instant, Anko stood between the two fighters. "Do you yield?" she asked Fuki softly.

Fuki nodded again. "I withdraw," she muttered bitterly, and Midori glanced away, releasing her opponent from her paralysis. Fuki shuddered once as control returned to her.

Anko nodded, once more activating the technique that amplified her voice. "Mitokado Fuki yields," she stated. "The winner of the first match is Haruno Midori of the Hidden Mist." Scattered, weak cheers and much louder boos filled the air, and Midori snorted. Without waiting for any other words from Anko, she turned away and began the walk back across the arena to the waiting room.

Anko let her hand rest on Fuki's shoulder. "Don't worry about it," she told the young kunoichi. "You did really well, particularly for a rookie. You probably won't make chuunin this time, but I expect you'll manage it within a year." When Fuki didn't say anything, she continued. "You can go back to the waiting room to stay with your team or leave now, whichever you want."

Fuki nodded. "Thank you," she whispered, then she followed Midori's trail back to the waiting room. When they arrived, both fighters rejoined their teams, the trio of Mist ninja pointedly ignoring the quiet hostility of the others as Saburo loudly celebrated Midori's victory. The green-eyed kunoichi herself didn't say anything, settling for just giving Neji an evil grin. The Hyuuga prodigy didn't dignify her with a response.

Not far away, Sakura had finished giving her condolences to Fuki and walked over to her rival. "You're up next, Ino-pig," she said.

"I know that, Forehead," Ino muttered.

"Remember what I told you," Sakura said quietly, "and don't lose."

Ino grinned widely at her. "I told you before, Forehead, I'm not going to lose. Worry about your own fight." With that, she casually jumped from the waiting room to the arena floor. Sakura grimaced as she stared after her and remembered…

* * *

"The third exam's less than a week away." 

Sakura snorted at her rival's words. "I know that, Ino-pig," she replied, taking of sip of her tea. The two kunoichi were in a small cafe not far from the ninja academy - Ino had loudly declared that she would skip the meeting entirely if they were going to eat at Ichiraku yet again. "Maybe you aren't, but I'm perfectly capable of using a calendar."

"That was weak, Sakura," Ino returned with a roll of her eyes. "I'm afraid with your oversized forehead, there's not enough room left in your brain for witty insults."

"Are we here to talk or fight?" Sakura asked.

"You started it, Forehead," Ino reminded her. "I'd be happy to play with you more, though I think you should probably make this quick. You'll need to spend more time training if you don't want to embarrass yourself against me in the second round." Smirking, Ino took a sip of her own drink.

"Enough," Sakura snarled. "I don't want to talk about the exam, Ino-pig."

Ino raised an eyebrow as she set down her cup. "I thought you wanted to tell me all about your fight with Shimano Ren."

"I do," Sakura answered. "There's something more important."

"Spill it, then," Ino stated.

Sakura glanced about instinctively, making sure there weren't any other ninja within easy hearing distance. When she spoke, her voice was quiet but by no means soft. "You're going to tell me everything you know about Kakashi-sensei."

Ino blinked. "Didn't Hokage-sama tell you?" she asked.

"I can't get an appointment with her!" Sakura snarled, briefly forgetting herself and raising her voice. She paused, taking a quick breath and continuing in a normal tone of voice. "Hokage-sama is busy preparing for the exam, and Shizune-sama won't tell me anything."

"All right," Ino said. "I'll tell you what I know." It was her turn to make sure no one listening - while she wasn't really doing anything wrong, the information was technically classified. It took only a few minutes to tell Sakura what she knew about how Daimyo Chichiatsu had betrayed Kakashi and sold him out to the Cloud, leading to his capture.

When she finished, Sakura quietly snarled, "Damn it." The pink-haired kunoichi clenched her fists tightly. "If I didn't know it was stupid, I'd head to Swamp Country so I could kill this daimyo myself."

Ino laughed weakly. "You'd be a little late," she said, something strange in her voice. "He's already dead."

Sakura stared at her rival a moment, quickly realizing what Ino's odd tone meant. "Ino," she breathed. "You didn't -"

"I did." Ino stared at her mostly empty cup for a long moment, a hint of a shudder passing through her. "I was in his daughter's body, and I'd tricked him into telling me the whole story." She swallowed once. "I knew what had to be done, and I did it."

"Ino," was all Sakura could find to say.

"Don't," Ino said. "I don't need," she began, only to trail off. "You know what I mean."

"I guess," Sakura replied.

"Enough of that," Ino said firmly. "Now, tell me everything you know about this Ren."

"It's been a couple of months," Sakura said after a moment's hesitation to gather her thoughts, "and she's certainly been training. My information is going to be out of date."

"I know that," Ino said. "I'm not stupid." Now she paused. "Chouji fought her briefly in the second exam. She knows that fire claw technique of yours, and Chouji said that she has some technique that creates a wall of fire."

Sakura shrugged slightly. "I don't know about that. She also likes to use a technique called Shadow Smoke Evasion. It's like the Replacement Technique, but she doesn't need to leave anything physical behind. Instead she uses a specialized replication that explodes into enough smoke to disorient you for a moment."

Ino nodded. "I think I saw that one."

"Right." Sakura paused briefly. "Mitarashi-sensei… our Mitarashi-sensei, that is, told me that her sister would probably be teaching Ren-san the Fire Dragon Fist Style."

"Fire Dragon Fist?" Ino asked, grinning. "Sounds impressive."

"It's the Mitarashi Clan's secret taijutsu style," Sakura explained. "It utilizes fire element ninjutsu and integrates well with the rest of the family techniques." She paused. "It's a short-range style emphasizing speed. I wouldn't try to get into a taijutsu fight with her; she'll run circles around you if she's been learning the style."

"Treat her like I was fighting Lee-san?" Ino asked, for once a hint of worry in her voice. She grimaced. "Lee-san with fire ninjutsu for backup."

"She's almost certainly not that fast," Sakura said. "The Fire Dragon Fist also burns through chakra really quickly. You can outlast her if she uses it." Sakura frowned in thought. "I'd guess that she'd only go for taijutsu as a last resort. She seems more of a ninjutsu-type."

"Good," Ino responded. "Anything else?"

"Well, there is one more technique, but I don't think it'll come into play." Ino gave Sakura a curious glance, and after a moment she elaborated. "She knows a technique to create chakra-charged ropes out of water." The pink-haired genin grimaced. "She almost beat me that way."

Ino's eyes lit up. "You seem to always find yourself in that sort of situation."

Sakura growled at her rival. "And I always get out of them, too. I beat Ren-san and I almost beat you."

"That was a fluke," Ino stated. "Being behind your freaky forehead weirded me out and weakened my technique. It won't happen again. This time, you're not going to stand a chance."

"In your dreams, Ino-pig," Sakura said.

Ino's fingers danced briefly on the tabletop. "In the second exam, those Mist ninja carried water with them to power their techniques. I think that water element technique of hers might come into play after all."

"Oh." Sakura waited several more moments. "Do you think you can beat Ren-san?"

Ino grinned. "I can guarantee it."

"Don't get cocky," Sakura warned.

"I'm not," Ino replied. Her grin widened. "After all, if you could beat her, there's no way she'll even land a hit on me."

Sakura twitched. "Shut up, Ino-pig," she muttered, and the conversation went downhill from there.

* * *

Yamanaka Ino landed lightly on the arena floor. She took a moment to stare up at the stands. They looked so much bigger from down here than they did when you were in them. For an instant, a hint of nervousness paralyzed her, then she forced herself to straighten and walk toward the center of the arena, where Mitarashi Anko stood impatiently. 

"Good luck," the special jounin told her as she approached.

"Save it for Sakura," Ino returned. "She's going to need it when she goes up against me in the next round." Anko just laughed, and Ino glared at her.

"Save it for your opponents," Anko told her mockingly. "Now, where is that student of my sister's?"

There was a burst of black smoke, and when it faded Shimano Ren stood several paces away from Ino, on the other side of Anko. Ino snorted. What a waste of chakra. She might be a quiet girl, but this Ren seemed something of a show-off. That was good. Ino cracked her knuckles theatrically. "I'm not going to yield as easily as Fuki-san," she warned her opponent.

Ren gave Ino a curious gaze. "You're trying to provoke me… Yamanaka-san, wasn't it?" She didn't wait for an answer. "I don't provoke easily." Her voice seemed soft, but it was easily heard over the dull roar of the expectant crowd. "You'd have better luck with my teammates."

"I'll keep that in mind if either of them last long enough to fight me," Ino replied. Since Anko showed no inclination of starting the fight without waiting for them to finish their conversation, Ino began to stretch casually, as though she was preparing for a warm-up spar.

"You'll have to get past me first," Ren stated, a quiet confidence in her voice. Her mouth turned up into a crooked smile. "No hard feelings?"

"I won't have any, since I'm going to win," Ino said.

This provoked a burst of laughter from Ren. "You're an interesting one. Are you really this overconfident, or are you still trying to provoke me?"

"As amusing as this petty wordplay is," Anko interrupted, "the spectators aren't here to watch your lips move. Let's get this thing started. We've got a lot of fights to get through today."

"Don't worry," Ino said arrogantly. "This'll be over quickly." She straightened. "I'm ready."

"Likewise," Ren murmured, her eyes narrowing as she studied Ino carefully. Though she did her best to hide it, Ino returned the scrutiny.

"Good," Anko said, raising her hand. Once more, her voice began to echo throughout the arena. "The second match," she declared. "The Hidden Mist's Shimano Ren against the Hidden Leaf's Yamanaka Ino… begin!" Her hand dropped, and the battle began.

Ino didn't hesitate, charging Ren directly. Ren effortlessly blocked Ino's first wild punch, then was forced to twist away from the second. Ren's leg swept out, tripping Ino, but the Leaf kunoichi fell into a roll and regained her feet without giving Ren a chance to find an opening. Before Ino could attack again, Ren formed a familiar one-handed seal, and the blonde girl jumped away even as her opponent called out, "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!"

The flames swept at the empty air, but Ino landed unsteadily. Ren didn't press the attack, staring quizzically at her. "You can't possibly be that bad," she stated as she released her technique.

Ino gave her a cocky grin. "I'm just getting started."

"Good," Ren said. "I like a tough fight." She quickly reactivated the Claw of the Fire Dragon and charged.

Ino moved rapidly, knowing that she couldn't let Ren get into range with those flaming talons. Once more she jumped away, noting idly that Ren was pushing her away from the trees. A smart precaution, Ino supposed, though it wasn't going to do Ren any good in this fight. Ino laughed as she landed, then retreated again. "That's it?" she asked.

"You can't run forever," Ren stated.

"I suppose not," Ino said, her next jump taking her up to the wall of the arena. Using a quick flow of chakra to stabilize herself on the vertical surface, she rapidly formed seals. "Katon: Fireball Technique!" she shouted, bringing one hand to her mouth to guide the flames.

The massive globe of fire sped at Ren, who was forced to drop her technique and dodge, narrowly avoiding being caught by the edge of Ino's technique. Ino didn't let up, repeating the seals and creating another fireball that drove Ren farther away from her perch. A third fireball drove the point home, and Ren found herself with her back almost pressed against the stands, opposite Ino. The Mist kunoichi frowned, one hand inching toward forming the seal for Claw of the Fire Dragon.

With a laugh, Ino jumped down from her perch. "You're not going to beat me that way," she stated as she landed. "Fire element techniques are my village's specialty. Haven't you got some water element techniques to show me or something?" She slowly advanced on Ren, who began to walk forward herself.

"Now you're trying to goad me into switching to water element techniques," Ren commented, her hand resting over where she had to have hidden a water container. She very deliberately moved her hand away. "I'm not so foolish as to fall for that."

"Hey," Ino said, "if you want to not use some of your techniques, I'm not going to complain." Her hands filled with shuriken. "Let's go." In one smooth motion, she launched her shuriken at Ren, who flipped out of the way. However, Ino had used this time to circle around to Ren's side, and now she charged, kunai in hand.

Ren barely had time to draw her own kunai and parry Ino's first strike. "Now you're backing up your words," the Mist kunoichi said before counter-attacking. The two kunoichi exchanged dozens of strikes, but neither managed to land a solid hit on each other. Sensing the stalemate, Ren again kicked at Ino's legs, but this time Ino was ready for the attack, darting aside and slicing at Ren's side. Ren weaved away from the blow, but not quite quickly enough. Ino's blade sliced open Ren's hidden water container, releasing the contents onto the hungrily dry ground.

Ino backed away, grinning at the damp earth. "Now you really can't use your water element techniques."

Ren paused. "You've just made two mistakes, Yamanaka-san," she stated softly, sheathing her kunai.

"Oh?" Ino prompted as she followed suit.

"First, you assume that I only carried one source of water with me," Ren chided her. "Second, you assume that just because the ground has absorbed my water that I can't use it." Her hands blurred into a rapid sequence of seals. "Suiton: Water Rope Technique!" Water boiled up out of the earth, thickening and forming long tendrils that stretched from Ren's hand to wrap themselves around Ino. Ren pulled once on the water ropes, making Ino stumble. "Do you yield?" she asked.

Unable to keep her footing, Ino fell to her knees. Slowly, she began to laugh. "It's over."

Puzzled, Ren repeated herself. "Do you yield?" Then she suddenly stiffened.

"It's you that made the mistake," Ino explained. "You should have listened to yourself. I was trying to goad you into using this technique." She smiled. "These ropes work both ways. They limit my movement, by they also provide a conduit for my chakra to reach you. Now I'm using a variation on the Paralysis Technique, and you can't move at all."

"Even so," Ren stated calmly, "you can't attack either. It's a stalemate."

"Not so," Ino declared. "You're about to yield."

Ren's eyes widened. "What?"

Slowly, tortuously, Ino managed to get her hands into position to form a rapid sequence of seals. "Mind-Body Switch Technique," she breathed, and then she slumped over. An instant later, the ropes of water dissolved and Ren took a step backward.

"Examiner!" the Mist kunoichi called out, raising her hand.

Anko was beside her in less than a second. "Yes?" she asked carefully.

"I yield," Ren stated cheerfully.

"Right." There was more than a little sarcasm in Anko's voice. "Just for the record, who is yielding now?"

Ren grinned. "Why, me, Shimano Ren, of course!"

Anko rolled her eyes. "I hate that technique," she muttered. "Seems too much like cheating." Still, she raised her hand. "Shimano Ren yields. The second match goes to Yamanaka Ino!"

As the somewhat confused cheers began, Ren smiled, forming a single seal. "Release!" she shouted. Then she stumbled forward, her expression changing to a grimace.

Ino rose, smiling. "No hard feelings, right?" she said.

Ren gave her a long look. "You deserved the win," she admitted after a moment. "I knew you were trying to manipulate me, but I walked right into it anyway."

"I was really worried for a moment there when you said I was trying to goad you into using water element techniques," Ino said with a nod.

"How did you know about that technique? Sakura-san told you?"

Ino nodded again. "She did."

"I see," Ren murmured. She bowed shallowly to Ino, then walked off.

Anko grinned at the younger Leaf kunoichi. "Good show," she stated. "Even I wasn't entirely certain whether you were as arrogant as you were acting or if you were really planning something."

Ino laughed. "You must have listened to Forehead too much if you thought I was that stupid," she said. "I suppose I should get back to the waiting room so she can have her turn."

* * *

Sakura shook her head as she watched the end of Ino's fight. It seemed to her that Ino had taken an awful risk. What if Ren had chosen to use some other water element technique? Still, she had to admit it had worked, and she was glad, however sympathetic she felt toward Ren - watching Ino puppet Ren's body and force her to "concede" brought up too many bad memories. Now, all she had to do was defeat Ami, and she would get the one fight she really wanted. She clenched the railing, almost shaking as she realized that it was now her turn to fight. 

Beside her, Chouji finished cheering his teammate's victory and turned to Sakura. "Are you ready?" he asked.

Sakura nodded. "If I'm not, it doesn't really matter, does it?"

Not far away, Ami laughed. "Scared, forehead girl?" she asked, pushing a strand of her purple hair back behind her ear. "I'm looking forward to crushing you."

Sakura gave her old tormentor a steady stare. "You'll be waiting a long time," she stated as she studied her soon-to-be opponent. She could see strong muscles under the other girl's dark shirt and shorts, and she wore a short sword on her back. Could she expect sword-focused taijutsu? She had to admit she didn't know what techniques the Uzuki family used.

"We'll see," Ami said, then leapt from the balcony.

Rather than follow her, Sakura turned away from the railing and headed down the stairs. She'd barely made it a quarter of the way down when she passed Ren, who murmured, "Good luck."

"Thank you," Sakura returned before continuing on her way. After a handful of seconds that seemed like an eternity, she met Ino at the bottom of the stairs.

"Now it's my turn to say don't lose, Forehead," Ino stated. "I'll never forgive you if you lose to Ami."

"I've got no intention of it, Ino-pig," Sakura stated. "We're going to have our fight."

"And then you'll lose," Ino said confidently.

"Only if by lose, you mean win," Sakura said as she pushed past Ino.

"Sakura," Ino said seriously, not turning to face her. "Kick her ass."

The pink-haired kunoichi grinned. "That's the plan," she said, and then she walked out onto the arena floor. She was greeted by the awesome roar of the crowd. They weren't even really cheering yet, just waiting for the fight to begin, but it sounded so much louder now. It was hard to believe that she was actually here, about to fight to prove herself strong enough to become a chuunin. Her stomach twitched nervously as she thought of all those people, watching her.

She took another step forward, and realized that she was still wearing the weights Gai had given her. She glanced down at the atrocious orange leg warmers that hid them - she kept on forgetting to get around to purchasing something less ugly - and considered taking them off, and not just because of the fashion disaster that they were, though at least it was warm enough that she was wearing her lighter green jacket instead of the even more poorly matching red jacket.

It would probably be wise, but on the other hand she was curious as to how far she could get without them. The thought that leaving them on would help to hide her true speed from future opponents settled the matter. If Ami pressed her too hard, she could always take them off, after all. Nodding to herself, Sakura rapidly walked to the center of the arena, where Anko and Ami were waiting.

"Took you long enough," Ami grumbled.

Sakura didn't respond, instead imitating Ino and starting to stretch. "I'm ready whenever you are, Mitarashi-sensei," she stated. The thought struck her that Anko and Ami looked sort of similar, and she idly wondered whether there was some connection between the Mitarashi and the Uzuki. She shook her head slightly. This wasn't the time for that sort of thought.

Ami's hand rested on the hilt of her sword. "I'm ready," she said.

Anko clapped once. "All right, then!" She grinned at Sakura, then raised her hand. "The third march, Uzuki Ami against Haruno Sakura… begin!" Her hand lowered, and the crowd roared.

Neither combatant moved for a moment, then Ami began a slow circle around Sakura. The pink-haired genin forced herself to laugh. "I thought you were going to crush me?"

Ami snarled at her, but didn't charge. "I'm not an idiot," she stated.

"You could have fooled me," Sakura stated as she slipped a smoke bomb into her hand. She waited for just the right moment, then tossed the bomb at her feet.

As the plume of smoke obscured Sakura, Ami cautiously increased her distance. "What are you up to?" she muttered. An instant later, a half-dozen Sakura burst from the pillar of smoke, charging her in unison. Mere seconds before they reached her, Ami's sword flashed out of its scabbard, cutting one Sakura in two. There was a puff of white smoke. "Replications aren't going to fool me," Ami snarled as she leapt into motion, disrupting two clones with a single slice of her sword as she charged the rearmost Sakura. "I know where the real one is."

Before Ami could attack, all three remaining Sakura exploded into smoke. "You should think again," the real Sakura stated from behind Ami. The purple-haired girl managed to flip out of the way of the trio of kunai that flew at her back, twisting in midair to face her opponent. Sakura grinned. She should have thought of combining deliberately poor ordinary replications with the Perfect Replication Technique a long time ago.

Ami's free hand tossed shuriken at Sakura as she began to circle once more. "That'll only work once," she stated.

Sakura easily avoided Ami's attack. "How about this one?" she asked. Her hands flickered through seals. "Katon: Fireball Technique!" A burst of fire flew from her lips, but Ami easily sidestepped the attack.

"You'll have to do better than that," she said.

Sakura nodded. "I will," she said. Then she vanished in a blur of motion. Ami backpedaled furiously, but not quickly enough as Sakura reappeared inside her guard. A strong kunai strike almost forced Ami to drop her sword, but the rookie managed to maintain her grip. An instant later, Sakura's sandaled foot struck her in the stomach, sending Ami flying.

Just barely, she managed to land on her feet. "Damn you," she snarled.

Sakura didn't respond as she raced at her opponent, flinging the kunai she held. As Ami parried the projectile, Sakura formed a one-handed seal. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" she shouted, flames sprouting from between the fingers of her other hand and sweeping at Ami. The other girl's eyes widened, and she stumbled backward to avoid the fire. Sakura pressed her attack, swiping again and again with the fiery claws, but she was never quite able to land a blow.

Finally, Ami gained enough presence of mind to jump out of range, and Sakura let the claws die. This time, she didn't charge, waiting to see what Ami would try next. Smiling as the thought occurred to her, Sakura began her own slow circle around Ami.

Ami grimaced, sheathing her sword. "I was hoping to save this for another fight," she commented. Her hands formed seals, ending on one that left her hands clasped together. Flames began to gather above them, condensing into a small, painfully bright sphere. "Katon: Fire Soul!" Still locked into the seal, Ami's hands thrust forward, loosing the sphere.

Sakura darted aside, but the ball of flame slowly twisted in midair to follow her. Thinking quickly, Sakura realized that Ami's hands still formed that last seal. Breaking into a run to stay away from the technique, Sakura hurled shuriken at Ami, who didn't move until the last moment, when she was forced to break the seal and jump away.

Moments before it would have struck Sakura, the ball of flame stopped and pulsed. Eyes widening, Sakura flung herself to the ground as Ami's technique exploded behind her. When the dust faded, there was a shallow crater near where she had been standing, and Sakura gulped as she realized what might have happened if that attack had hit her. Not wasting any more time, she regained her feet, keeping her eyes on Ami.

Her opponent grimaced. "I'm not through yet," she hissed. Strangely, she took her still-sheathed sword, scabbard and all, off her back, holding it loosely in one hand by her side. She began to slowly walk toward Sakura, her dark eyes flaring with anger. Sakura tensed, waiting for Ami to reveal her next attack. Ami paused a few yards away from Sakura, inching her blade out of her scabbard with her thumb. "This is the end," she hissed, and then she attacked.

Ami drew her sword and cut at Sakura in one single, smooth motion, almost too quickly to see. The perfect strike was too fast to dodge, cutting the pink-haired genin in half at the waist. Grinning, Ami sheathed her weapon as Sakura's halves fell to the ground. Then they both vanished in twin puffs of smoke, revealing the small log that had actually been cut.

"You shouldn't telegraph your moves like that," Sakura stated as she reappeared behind Ami. The other girl froze, and Sakura grinned, thinking of Ino's words to her before the match. Then she slammed her foot into Ami's rear, sending the other girl stumbling forward, her sword slipping from her hand. Before Ami could recover, Sakura had grabbed her, placing a kunai at her throat. "Yield?" she asked softly.

"Never," Ami snarled as she struggled to escape Sakura's grasp.

The pink-haired kunoichi sighed. "Mitarashi-sensei?" she called out.

Anko appeared in front of the two fighters, sighing. "I can't do anything just yet," she stated. She glanced at Ami. "You going to do the smart thing?" Ami just snarled at her.

Sakura guessed the meaning behind Anko's words, and she pressed her blade harder against Ami's throat. It still took her a moment to work up the courage to actually try to cut it. Before she could do more then scratch her opponent, her weapon went spinning out of her hand and Ami was stumbling forward.

"That's enough," Anko stated, grinning widely. "No need for unnecessary deaths." She once more raised her hand. "Haruno Sakura wins the third match!"

* * *

"Good girl," Tsunade breathed as Anko announced her soon-to-be apprentice's victory. She was honestly impressed. She'd read Sakura's records when the young kunoichi had first approached her, and it was hard to believe that she was watching that then-unimpressive ninja. Sakura certainly had come a long way in the past months. She glanced sideways at Mitokado Homura, who was smiling. 

When the Hokage raised an eyebrow, Homura commented quietly, "That Ami has always been a bad influence on Fuki-chan."

On Tsunade's other side, Mitarashi Kimi snorted. "Wasn't that impressive," she muttered, in a way far too much like her sister for Tsunade's comfort.

Between the two women, Matsuyo Nissho grinned. "Still disappointed that one of your students was knocked out?" the Waterfall jounin asked.

Kimi glared at him. "Don't push me, you little man," she snarled.

Utatane Koharu coughed. "You would do well to remember where you are, Mitarashi-san," she stated.

Kimi smiled innocently. "Why, thank you, Utatane-sama," she said cheerfully. "Without your reminder, I would have forgotten that I'm at the heart of an enemy village with probably a half-dozen elite ANBU ready to kill me in an instant if I even breathe suspiciously."

"Mitarashi-san," Tsunade said harshly. "You should not push me, either."

The Mist ninja paled slightly. "Forgive me, Hokage-sama," she murmured.

Perhaps hoping to change the subject, Homura gestured to the arena floor. "It looks like the next match is starting."

Kimi smiled dangerously, leaning forward in her seat. "This should be fun," she said, pointedly not looking at the man sitting beside her.

"Yes," Nissho replied calmly. "It should be."

From far below, Anko's voice came. "The fourth match, Aoki Saburo of the Hidden Village of the Mist against the Hidden Waterfall's Yuhara Maya… begin!"

Before the echoes had faded, Saburo broke into a run, charging straight at Maya. The kunoichi reacted quickly, summoning her naginata and using it to keep the Mist ninja at bay. A series of rapid thrusting attacks pushed him back, until finally he was forced to leap away from Maya, landing perhaps ten yards back.

Nissho laughed. "This should be quick," he stated.

"Yes," Kimi agreed. "It will be."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed as she studied the fight. What was the reason for Kimi's confidence? At the moment, Maya was using wind-based techniques with her weapon to drive Saburo about the battlefield, and the boy seemed helpless to respond. What was she missing? It was so hard to see the details of the fight from this far away.

Saburo tossed a small canister into the air, and a blast of cutting wind shattered it. Water spurted out of the broken container, falling all him. A slight grin on his face, Saburo's hands flickered through seals and the falling water congealed into three perfect clones of himself. As one, the water replications charged. A single blast of wind shattered them, but Saburo was following them, still forming seals, and the clones quickly reformed themselves.

He was using the clones to shield himself, but it had to be wasting a lot of chakra. Tsunade frowned as they drew nearer and nearer, and then suddenly the clones flung themselves at Maya as Saburo leapt away. The replications exploded in a sequence of bursts of water that engulfed the unfortunate kunoichi, and Saburo laughed loudly as he landed.

Then the burst of water stilled. Amazingly, Maya stood untouched in the middle of a bubble of air. Her polearm was moving rapidly, somehow pushing the water away from her and keeping it the air. She snarled something that Tsunade couldn't catch. Then, her weapon's motion changed subtly and she shouted loudly enough to be heard. "The Second Stance: Commanding the Waves!" The water surrounding her melted into a massive globe at the tip of Maya's naginata, then exploded into a torrent that slammed Saburo into one of the arena walls. The wall cracked slightly under the force, and Saburo slumped slowly to the ground.

"That's my girl," Nissho declared. Below, Maya approached her fallen foe.

"Don't gloat yet," Kimi stated. Tsunade nodded slightly as Maya's naginata poked at Saburo. The Mist ninja grabbed the weapon by the blade. Then his form wavered and burst into a blast of water rivaling Maya's attack. The kunoichi went flying, landing heavily on her back. Her weapon landed far away, and Saburo emerged from the ground next to it.

"When?" Nissho asked, shocked.

"Idiot," Kimi snarled. "If you couldn't see that, you don't deserve to be a jounin."

"He wasn't as stunned as he looked," Tsunade explained. "He summoned a water replication after hitting the wall and went underground."

Below, Saburo gingerly picked up Maya's naginata and advanced on his fallen foe. As she struggled to rise, Saburo pointed her own weapon at her throat and said something. Maya nodded, and an instant later Anko stood beside the two, declaring, "The winner of the fourth match, the Hidden Mist's Aoki Saburo!"

* * *

Yamanaka Ino grinned at her rival as Sakura returned to the waiting area, a sullen Ami trailing after her. The blonde's grin didn't fade as she watched the other girl accept congratulations from Rock Lee among others before rejoining her. "It looks like we're going to get our fight, Forehead," Ino said. 

Sakura's smile was as wide and as dangerous as Ino's. "That's right," she declared. "You'd better lose impressively, Ino; it'll be your last shot to impress the judges."

Ino laughed. "In your dreams," she said. She grinned evilly, glancing at Sakura's legs. "And the only thing that you're impressing the judges with is your total lack of fashion sense. I can't believe you're still wearing those things, Forehead."

Standing beside them, Akimichi Chouji coughed. "The next match is starting," he stated, instantly drawing the two girls' attention to the battle between Saburo and Maya. No more words passed between the two kunoichi as they observed the relatively short match.

As Anko announced Saburo's victory, Ino frowned. "He can really take a hit," she allowed. "I thought he was out of it when the Waterfall girl knocked him into the wall." Her gaze went to the faintly visible cracks where Saburo had impacted the wall. "He didn't seem all that tough in the second exam."

"It has been a month," Sakura stated. "I'm sure he was training too."

"I guess," Ino replied. She glanced at Chouji. "It's your turn next, isn't it?" she asked.

Tenten, passing behind the trio on her way to the stairs, answered for him. "It is," she stated.

"Good luck," Ino told Chouji. She performed some quick calculations in her head. "If you win this one, we'll be the only team to have all three people make it into the second round." Chouji only nodded and followed Tenten down to the arena floor.

Beside Ino, Sakura frowned. "This could be a tough fight for him," she told Ino.

"No way," Ino said. "You know how strong Chouji was in the second exam, and he's been training." She grinned. "Shuriken girl isn't going to know what hit her."

Sakura shook her head. "I did some training with Tenten-san," she said. "She's no pushover either."

"That's right," Rock Lee stated, suddenly appearing beside the two kunoichi. "It will be an interesting fight."

Ino jumped. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" she snapped at the green-clad ninja.

"I'm sorry," Lee apologized, but Ino's attention was on Sakura, who frowned as she looked at Lee, then glanced in the direction of the Waterfall team.

"What's wrong, Sakura?" she asked.

"Lee-san," Sakura stated quietly. "About your opponent for the first round."

"Chiba Ikkei-san?" Lee asked, and Sakura nodded.

"I was talking with his team last week," she said, "and they let something slip. It's not much, but they seemed pretty confident that he couldn't be beaten with taijutsu."

"I see," Lee replied calmly. "It will be a good challenge, then."

Sakura sighed, but before anyone could say anything else Anko announced the beginning of the fifth match. "Tenten against Akimichi Chouji," came her enhanced voice. "Begin!"

All eyes turned to the battlefield below, where for several long moments there was no movement. Then, Tenten almost casually flung out an arm, and the air between them filled with steel. As the storm of shuriken and kunai neared, Chouji didn't move. An instant before he would have been skewered by dozens of projectiles, he plunged into the ground like it was water.

Tenten didn't wait to react, leaping into the air mere instants before Chouji burst from the ground, fist extended for an uppercut. Though Ino couldn't see the scroll Tenten must have used, there was as puff of smoke as she summoned a dark staff in midair. One end plunged into Chouji's gut, knocking the stocky ninja back to the ground. Tenten used the leverage to push herself away, gracefully landing a good distance from her opponent, her weapon snapping into a ready position.

"Not bad," Ino allowed after a moment.

"I told you she was good," Sakura replied. Below, Chouji had regained his feet and seemed to be cautiously considering his options. Not waiting for him to decide, Tenten advanced, her staff spinning in her hands.

Apparently, this was what Chouji had been waiting for, as one of hands swelled to gargantuan size. Before Tenten could react, he had wrenched the staff from her hands with monstrous strength, flinging it aside to vanish in a burst of smoke. Even as Tenten jumped out of his range, the rest of his body expanded to match his swollen hand. His arms and legs vanished into his expanded clothing, followed a moment later by his head. His roar of "Human Bullet Tank!" was audible even in the waiting room.

Tenten tried once more to jump out of the way, but Chouji was too fast, slamming into her with full force. "Get her, Chouji!" Ino hollered at him.

Chouji stopped rotating briefly, possibly to give Tenten a chance to yield, but the kunoichi trapped underneath him exploded into white smoke. A moment later, the massive ninja rolled away, revealing a shattered log. "Where is she?" Sakura muttered.

Lee pointed to the trees on the opposite side of the battleground. "There," he stated.

Ino's eyes followed his finger, finding Tenten perched among the branches. "That's not going to help her," she said after a moment.

Indeed, down below it seemed that Chouji had noted Tenten's location as he rolled across the field, rapidly picking up speed as he traveled. A half-dozen kunai, weak explosive tags hanging from their hilts, flew at him, but the over-sized ninja bulldozed through them, apparently not inconvenienced in the least as they impacted against his bulk. With a tremendous crash, he slammed into the tree that served as Tenten's sanctuary.

Ino cursed as she saw that Tenten managed to jump away before the tree toppled, but the kunoichi landed poorly, almost collapsing. In an instant, Chouji had reversed his course, barreling back toward his fallen foe. Without time to dodge, Tenten used the last moments she had to bite her thumb, rapidly forming a short sequence of seals. "Summoning Technique!" she hissed, and a pillar of smoke interposed itself between her and Chouji.

Everyone in the waiting room could hear the sound of Chouji hitting something hard, but it still took several moments for the smoke to fade. When it did, it revealed the strange sight of Chouji pushing against a turtle perhaps half as large as his swollen form. As he slowly began to gain ground, Tenten flipped away, pulling out a pair of scrolls. "Now!" she shouted, as she landed in a crouch, carefully placing the scrolls on either side of her.

The massive turtle began to push harder, slipping under the still-rotating Chouji. With an almost-human grunt of effort, the animal hurled the massive ninja high into the air, then dissolved into smoke. As Tenten formed another set of seals, she too vanished in a massive cloud of smoke. Two smoke dragons rose out of the cloud, twisting and spiraling around each other as Tenten shouted "Twin Rising Dragons!"

The smoke faded, the dragons turning back into the scrolls she had placed on the ground, unwound and still turning about each other in midair. Tenten jumped straight up through the center of the winding scrolls. A series of rapid explosions of smoke traveled up and down the scrolls as countless shuriken, kunai, and other weapons popped into existence, hurled in an unending blur of motion by Tenten at Chouji.

Still in midair, the massive ninja managed to stop his rotation, his head and limbs reemerging from the cocoon of his clothing. He had only a moment to take a deep breath and form seals before Tenten's weapons hit. "Katon: Fireball Technique!" he roared, a massive torrent of flame spewing from his lips.

The force of the blast knocked the projectiles aside, sending them plummeting to the ground. Chouji himself landed heavily, the earth shuddering and cracking under his enhanced weight. A moment later, Tenten landed gracefully in another crouch not far away, but despite the futility of her attack she was grinning widely.

Ino blinked, then her eyes narrowed as she studied the field. Then she cursed as Tenten tensed before leaping into the air. Her hands danced, suddenly visible wires lifting the litter of weapons surrounding Chouji. The stocky ninja seemed unafraid and unsurprised, merely taking in another deep breath. Once more the weapons flew at him, and once more he used the Fireball Technique. This time he spun as he did, allowing the burst of fire to counter all the weapons attacking him.

Tenten landed in a crouch behind him as her weapons clattered to the ground a second time. She raised one hand, closing it into a fist. Too quickly for Chouji to react, the discarded wires surrounding him rose into the air, twisting around him and binding him. Turning to face the over-sized ninja, Tenten brought the other end of one wire to her lips, her hands forming a seal around it. "It's over," she said loudly. "Yield!"

Ino laughed. "She's made her mistake."

Exploding into a brief burst of gray smoke, Chouji returned to his normal size. The wires that had bound his larger form fell around the shrunken ninja. One hand reached out and snagged a wire, bringing it up to his own mouth. Before Tenten Could react, Chouji's hands blurred into seals. "Katon: Dragon Fire Technique!"

Flames raced down the wire toward Tenten, who spit out her end not a moment too soon. Then she blurred into motion, racing alongside the still-blazing wire even as it fell to the ground. Dropping his own end, Chouji baked away, but not quickly enough. As Tenten neared, she leapt into the air, shouting "Leaf Whirlwind!" Her foot struck Chouji hard in the jaw, sending him flying.

"That's," Ino gasped, glancing at Lee.

The slightly older boy nodded. "Tenten is Gai-sensei's student also," he stated, his eyes tracking her opponent's path through the air. When Chouji landed, he twitched but did not rise. Breathing heavily, Tenten fell to her knees, clearly exhausted.

Anko appeared next to Chouji, briefly inspecting him. Then she raised her hand. "The winner of the fifth match, Tenten!"

* * *

Sakura winced as beside her Rock Lee loudly began to cheer his teammate's victory. "Tenten-san will be up here soon enough, Lee-san. There's no need to shout so loudly." She paused, glancing at Ino. "Besides," she started, then trailed off. 

Lee caught her meaning, stopping his wild hollering and straightening as he turned to Ino, his voice serious. "Chouji-san fought well," he said. "There is no disgrace in his loss."

"I know," Ino said flatly as she watched a pair of medical ninja help Chouji off the field. Sakura knew the stocky ninja couldn't be seriously hurt, as he was walking more or less on his own, but it looked like he wouldn't be heading straight back to the waiting room. "I should go check on him."

Sakura nodded. "I'll come with you," she offered.

"No," Ino replied. She grinned weakly. "We need you here to report on the fights." It was a poor excuse, but Sakura just nodded again. Despite their brief time together earlier in the exams, she wasn't really Chouji's teammate. "I'll be back in a bit," Ino murmured, then she headed for the exit, pushing past Tenten as the weapon-expert returned.

"Tenten!" Lee shouted, waving her over to join him.

She complied, nodding in greeting to Sakura. Despite her cool poise, she looked tired to Sakura's eyes. Clearly, the other kunoichi had been hard-pressed by the fight. "Who's next?" Tenten asked after a moment.

Sakura was the first to respond. "Hiraki Arata," she said, pointing back at the Waterfall team, "against Inuzuka Shinta from the rookies. Then Lee-san against the last Waterfall." Arata and Shinta were already moving toward the exit, exchanging quiet words as they left the room.

Sakura started, feeling movement behind her, but relaxed as she realized it was only Neji moving to join his teammates. Her attention returned to the field, where the two fighters had already positioned themselves and were only waiting for Anko's word to begin. Then she started again as Neji suddenly spoke to her. "Sakura-san," he intoned gravely.

She turned slightly to face him. "What is it, Neji-san?" she asked politely, resisting the wild urge to angrily demand that he not scare her like that. The sound of Anko loudly announcing the next fight floated up from the field below.

"My opponent for the next round, this… Haruno Midori," he stated. "What can you tell me?"

Sakura grimaced. She knew why she was always being asked about Midori, but it was annoying. "Not much." She glanced out to the arena, seeing only a typical set of opening probes with kunai and shuriken. "She's a doujutsu user."

"I'm aware of that." Neji's voice was calm. "Mitokado Fuki said that you had experienced a doujutsu technique of hers that she did not display in the first match."

"Yes," Sakura said, shuddering briefly. "It's some sort of genjutsu that she has to catch your eyes for." She paused, searching for words. "It's pain."

Neji blinked. "Elaborate."

"Every thought, every sensation," Sakura replied after a moment. "It all turns into pain. I could barely move, much less fight."

"That's awful," Lee stated, and even Tenten seemed slightly shaken.

"Thank you," was all Neji said, his attention turning to the field. Sakura followed suit, seeing that the battle had traveled almost to the wall the waiting room's balcony was situated in. Somewhat surprisingly, it was Hiraki Arata whose back was to the wall, though it didn't seem like either fighter had pulled out any serious moves yet.

Thanks to the fact that they were almost directly beneath her, Sakura was able to clearly hear the two ninja's words. "You're not bad… for a rookie, that is," Arata said boldly, crouching as he caught his breath.

Inuzuka Shinta let out a bark of laughter. "You're not going to goad me into something rash that easily," he stated. "Ami is far more abrasive than you could ever be." Sakura wasn't able to resist a smirk and a glance at the purple-haired bully, who snarled, glaring back at all the eyes on her. Only Fuki's hand on her shoulder seemed to restrain her from doing something stupid.

Below, Arata grinned. "Maybe hanging back was just what I wanted you to do." His hands leapt up off the ground where they rested, blurring through a sequence of seals before returning to their prior posture. "Doton: Well-Digging Technique!" Reacting instantly, Shinta jumped away as the ground under his feet crumbled. Arata just formed another sequence of seals. "Suiton: Geyser Technique!"

A massive pillar of water sprouted from the hole his first technique had created, twisting in mid-air to fly straight toward Shinta. The Leaf ninja crossed his arms in front of his face to shield it from the worst of the blow, but the attack still knocked him back to the ground. He landed heavily, unmoving for a moment before rolling shakily to his feet.

Arata stood as water rained down between the two of them, and Sakura saw that, as the name of the technique that had created it implied, the hole he had made was filling with muddy water. The Waterfall ninja was not going to have any trouble powering his water element techniques.

Neji frowned. "That just made all the Mist ninja more dangerous," he stated.

"Surely you're not worried," Tenten said, smirking slightly. Neji didn't respond, all his attention on the battle.

"Your move," Arata said lightly as he slowly advanced.

Shinta took a deep breath, clearly calming himself. "All right," he stated. His eyes closed briefly as he concentrated, clearly summoning all of his chakra. His hands began to move through a sequence of odd seals. Beside Sakura, the veins around Neji's eyes bulged as he activated his Byakugan.

Shinta's hands locked into a final seal. "Inuzuka-Style Rare Beast Transformation: Hungry Wolf Technique!" There was a blast of smoke, and when it faded Shinta was gone. In his place stood a large gray wolf, almost as tall as the boy himself had been.

"A transformation technique?" Sakura muttered in thought.

"That's it?" Tenten asked.

"No," Neji responded. "It's not an ordinary transformation technique. It's a complete physical shape-change."

The wolf tensed briefly, then vanished in a blur of motion. Sakura had to strain her eyes to catch Shinta's attack, a familiar rotating blur of fangs and claws that came at Arata from the side. The Waterfall ninja barely managed to roll out of the way, flinging a handful of shuriken that only bounced off of his opponent's thick fur. The wolf stopped moving, his mouth slowly opening, saliva dripping from his jaws. Arata tensed, seemingly ready for anything.

The torrent of flames that spewed from Shinta's transformed mouth still surprised him. The Waterfall ninja barely managed to dodge, flinging himself to the ground. Before he could recover, the wolf was upon him, snapping at his neck. There was a puff of smoke, and Shinta's jaws closed only on wood.

"The rookie's not bad," Tenten stated as Arata reappeared next to the well he had created.

His Byakugan still active, Neji shook his head. "If he can't take and keep the advantage soon, he's going to lose."

Lee nodded gravely. "I think Arata-san is about to win." Sakura studied the battleground, but she wasn't able to determine the source of Lee's confidence. A moment later, though, Neji and Tenten both nodded in agreement.

"What?" Sakura asked, her confusion plain in her voice.

"Look at the well," Tenten stated, and Sakura did. The level of the water seemed a little lower, didn't it? She frowned in thought. It had to have gone somewhere.

As if in answer to her thoughts, Arata's hands blurred through seals. "Doton: Sinkhole Technique," he breathed, and the water-saturated ground under Shinta's feet began to give way.

"He was luring Shinta-san into that position the whole time," Sakura stated as the wolf struggled futilely to escape from the mud that ensnared it. Its struggles only seemed to make it sink faster. There was a puff of smoke, and Shinta returned to his natural form. Slowly, he managed to pull himself from the mud.

Shinta threw up a hand, halting the charge Arata started in response. "I'm out of chakra," the Leaf ninja said calmly. "I yield." Arata nodded, taking step back as Anko appeared beside him.

"The Hidden Waterfall's Hiraki Arata wins the sixth match," the special jounin declared loudly.

Arata walked over to Shinta, helping to his feet while exchanging quiet words, and then the pair began the short walk back to the waiting room.

Tenten grinned at Lee. "Your turn," she said.

"Good luck," Sakura told him.

Lee nodded. "Thank you," he said simply, turning and heading toward the door. He was joined by Chiba Ikkei from the Waterfall team, and the two left, passing Arata and Shinta. The two returning fighters quickly rejoined their teammates.

A few moments after that, Ino arrived with Chouji and - surprisingly - Shikamaru in tow. "What did we miss?" she asked as they joined Sakura, Tenten, and Neji.

"Arata-san from the Waterfall defeated Inuzuka Shinta," Sakura said. "Lee-san and the other Waterfall are just about to fight."

Shikamaru sighed. "Lee wins, most likely," he stated firmly.

Perhaps he spoke to loudly, as he attracted the attention of Yuhara Maya. "Who are you and how can you be so confident?" the Waterfall kunoichi demanded.

"Maya," Arata said warningly beside her.

"To the first," Shikamaru said loud enough for all the waiting fighters to hear, "I'm Nara Shikamaru, chuunin of the Hidden Leaf, and I've been sent to let you all know that there'll be a brief intermission after this fight. If any of last round's winners want to withdraw before their fight, this is your chance." When no one took him up on his offer, he continued. "In that case, we want all the winners - and that includes Neji-san - to come out onto the field after the end of this fight." He paused again. "Any questions?" he asked.

"What about my other question?" Maya asked angrily.

Shikamaru sighed. "I'm not about to get into a troublesome argument with you," he said. "You'll see soon enough." His hands formed a quick seal, and he vanished in a burst of smoke.

Below, Lee and Ikkei had arrived at their positions, and Anko stood between them. "This is the final match of the first round!" her voice came. "From the Hidden Village of Waterfall, Chiba Ikkei. From the Hidden Leaf, Rock Lee!" She waited a moment for the cheers to die off, then shouted, "Begin!"

Everything was still for a moment. Then Lee disappeared. Clearly unprepared for his speed, Ikkei stumbled back, almost tripping. Lee's fist shot over the Waterfall ninja's head, but without pausing Lee somehow got behind him, foot darting out to sweep Ikkei's legs out from under him. He managed to catch his fall with one hand, a leg spinning to counterattack. Lee caught the desperate strike on crossed arms, but this bought Ikkei enough time to regain his feet.

After a second too long to weigh his options, he darted for the well his teammate had created. Lee moved to intercept, a fierce punch sending Ikkei flying. Sakura winced when Ikkei bounced once before coming to a stop. Lee had clearly been holding back even more than she'd thought in their spars. Beside her, Ino glared triumphantly at Maya. "Shikamaru's always right," the blonde girl bragged.

The Waterfall kunoichi just snorted. "It's not over yet," she said.

On the field below, Ikkei had shakily regained his feet, one hand reaching for a kunai. In an instant, Lee was there, his foot sweeping toward his opponent's chest… and through it, as Ikkei dissolved into water. Sakura frowned. "A water replication?" she asked.

Ino matched her rival's expression. "When did he have a chance to -"

"He didn't," Neji stated firmly, his Byakugan activating. After a moment, he let out an almost-impressed "Ah."

"What is it?" Tenten asked.

Before Neji could answer, the puddle of water that had recently been Ikkei exploded into motion under Lee's feet. Only the green-clad ninja's inhumanly fast reactions kept him from being snared by the suddenly flailing tendrils of water. He landed lightly, but was forced to move again as the water drew itself up into a wave that tried to crash down on him.

"This is the Chiba Clan's Bloodline Limit," Maya stated proudly, "the ability to change one's entire body into water."

"Freak." Predictably, the muttered insult came from Haruno Midori, though the other two Mist's faces did nothing to hide their own distaste.

On the field, the water rose up into an approximation of Ikkei's shape. "You might as well yield," he stated loudly. "You can't hurt me when I'm like this."

Sakura couldn't hear Lee's answer, but his actions made it evident as he broke for the trees on the other side of the arena. This time it was Ikkei who moved to intercept, but Lee proved fast enough to dart through the twisting arcs of water. Sakura bit nervously at her lip. What was Lee planning?

"It won't do any good," Maya boasted. "Ikkei-kun's just getting started."

As though he had heard Maya's words, Ikkei drew himself together, forming a massive liquid hand that dove at Lee, who froze. Tenten cursed softly, and Sakura paled. That was just like Gaara's attack. A moment too late, Lee tried to dodge. The hand engulfed him, melting into a perfect sphere that rose up into the air. Sakura winced.

"What?" Maya's voice was shocked. "When did he -"

Sakura risked a look, and saw that instead of Lee, Ikkei had only caught a small branch, clearly broken off from one of the trees. "That can't be the Replacement Technique," Chouji murmured.

"It wasn't." Sakura shook her head. "He just moved that fast."

"No one's that fast!" Ino protested.

"It still won't help -" Maya began shakily.

Neji shook his head, pointing at the branch. "It's over." Sakura's eyes narrowed, and she spotted the three high-power explosive tags pasted to it mere instants before they exploded. As the gray smoke faded away, it almost appeared like a small rainstorm, the water - Ikkei - falling to the ground.

Lee reappeared, bending down to pick up something near where he had frozen earlier. "Ikkei-san?" he asked calmly, his voice carrying across the distance to the waiting room.

A few moments later, enough water gathered back together to reform in the image of Ikkei. He solidified once more, and said something that Sakura couldn't hear. A few moments later, his meaning was clear, though, as Anko loudly announced Lee as the victor of the match.

* * *

Mitarashi Anko grinned for a moment at Lee as Ikkei began the long walk back to the waiting room, glancing at the weights he held. "Those aren't your only weights, are they?" 

Lee shook his head. "I added some extra ones this morning," he said, sounding a little regretful. "I was hoping I could make it longer with them."

Anko just shook her head. She was never going to understand Maito Gai, much less his student, who had inherited all of Gai's… Gai-ness and more beside. Whatever sort of stupid idiot wore weights to a real fight, adding extra weights for a fight required idiocy that made that person look like a genius. Anko shook her head again. She was going to have words with Sakura once all this was over about that, whether the pink-haired girl liked it or not. She would have had them already, but she couldn't show too much interest in her sort-of-student until all this was over. If she did, it could become troublesome, as a certain chuunin assistant of hers would say.

"Just stay here," she told Lee after a moment. "The others should be on their way."

"I see them," the genin replied, and Anko turned to see that indeed the other remaining fighters had made it onto the field and were headed toward the center. When they arrived, it took her several moments to get them arranged properly. Then she turned to face the crowd, reactivating her voice amplification technique. "That concludes the first round of the final stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam!" the special jounin declared, and the echoes of her statement were drowned out by the cheering of the crowd.

"There will be a brief intermission before the quarterfinal round begins so the fighters can rest," Anko continued after a moment. "Before that, though, I'd like to let those cheapskates who didn't purchase a program know just how great a line-up we have waiting for you so you don't get bored and leave!" She waited again for the laughter to die down, then moved next to one end of the line of genin she had formed.

"First up," she stated, "we've got someone you haven't seen yet, who was lucky enough to get a free pass into the quarterfinals. From the Leaf's most feared clan, Hyuuga Neji will be facing the Hidden Mist's Haruno Midori." Anko grinned nastily, glancing sideways at her sister's student. "My sources tell me our guest from the Mist has promised to rip out Neji-kun's eyes. We all know the usual Hyuuga response to that sort of threat, so we can look forward to a quick, brutal fight."

Without waiting to see how the two genin took to her comments, Anko moved on to the next pair. "For the second fight, we've got Yamanaka Ino against Haruno Sakura, both from the Leaf." Anko smiled slightly at Sakura before continuing. "These two were teammates in the first two exams, but don't let you think there'll be a soft fight! This is actually a rematch, as these two fighters managed the first recorded double knockout in over twenty years in the preliminary fights for the last exam. It's pretty rare to have both fighters wanting to avenge their defeat, so we can look forward to an interesting match!"

Moving on, Anko grinned. Those were both going to be fun fights to watch. She was looking forward to seeing the Hyuuga prodigy in action again, and having her sister's student be the victim was even better. She also had every reason to believe that Sakura's fight would not be nearly so long and dull as her first match against the Yamanaka girl. With a slight shake of her head to clear her thoughts, Anko stopped in front of the next set of fighters.

"After that, it's another Mist versus Leaf fight as Aoki Saburo fights Tenten." She made a show of grimacing. "Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any grudges or threats going into this match, so it looks like we can expect a good, clean, boring fight." She waited once more for the crowd's laughter to die down, then moved on to the last pair.

"Finally, the Waterfall's Hiraki Arata against the Leaf's Rock Lee! In case you were napping, Lee-kun just took out Arata-kun's teammate, leaving him the last member of his village in the tournament. I expect our guest will be looking to avenge his village's honor, so we should get some more fun stuff from this fight. Look forward to it!" Arata let out a strangled laugh, rolling his eyes at Rock Lee, who looked at his opponent seriously for a moment before grinning slightly.

"All right then," Anko said, turning back to the whole group of genin and letting her voice fall back to a normal volume. She clapped her hands. "Go on back to the waiting room and enjoy the break." She walked over to stand before Neji and Midori. "Unless you two can't wait," she said. "Then we can go ahead and get started now. I'd hate for the audience to miss the first strikes cause they took place up there."

"Whenever she's ready," Neji said calmly, not looking at Midori.

The Mist kunoichi hesitated slightly, then said, "I'm ready."

Anko resisted the urge to snort derisively. That was stupid. Even though Midori had been in the first fight, she had been in a fight and Neji was entirely fresh. More time to rest and recover her chakra could only help her, and she didn't gain anything in return. "All right then," she said, then raised her voice. "By agreement of the participants, the first quarterfinal fight will begin immediately!" she announced. Her voice returned to normal. "The rest of you, get off the field."

As Sakura passed the special jounin she paused briefly, murmuring softly, "Was all that… show business really necessary?"

"Nope!" Anko replied quietly but cheerfully. "It's fun, though!"

Sakura just rolled her eyes and continued on her way.

* * *

Hyuuga Neji wasn't able to stop himself from smirking as he studied the girl standing a few paces from him. For now, he met her green eyes - if she was tempted to use her own doujutsu prior to the match and disqualify herself, so much the better. It would give him all the more advantage in his next two fights. A part of him told himself that he wasn't likely to be weakened too much by this fight in any case, but he didn't want to underestimate this Midori. She could easily have been hiding her strength in the first fight. 

For a moment, the question crossed his mind of just what this girl's relation was to Haruno Sakura, but he pushed the idle thought aside. Not only was this hardly the time to let his mind wander, but what did the answer matter to him? He wasn't one to pry into another clan's problems. He glanced sideways at Mitarashi Anko, noting the the special jounin was still watching the other fighters make their slow way back to the waiting room.

When his gaze returned to his opponent, he smirked again at her obvious agitation. An excited opponent was more likely to make a mistake, after all. Midori snarled wordlessly at him, then spat at the ground. Neji let out a deliberate sigh. "You have something you want to say?" he asked, letting a hint of boredom into his voice. Was he always to be cursed with that sort of foe in these battles?

"Freak," Midori stated. "You disgust me."

"So I have gathered," Neji said dryly. "The hatred of your country toward those with Bloodline Limits is well known, though I must admit the hypocrisy of your choosing to focus your ire on me is astounding."

"Hypocrisy!" Midori almost charged him then and there, but with effort visible even without the Byakugan she restrained herself.

"Is it not obvious?" Neji pressed, encouraged by her reaction. "How are you different from me? You have your doujutsu, the secret techniques of your family."

Midori, surprisingly, threw back her head, laughing long and bitterly. "You fool," she said when she was done. "Secret techniques? The Haruno Clan has no secret techniques. All of them, from the lowest to the most difficult, were given to others, to prove that we had no Bloodline Limit. Can you say the same, freak?"

"Of course not," Neji answered.

"Of course not," Midori repeated mockingly. "Do you have any idea of the fate you avoided by mere accident of geography?" She spat again. "Of what I've had to go through because of freaks like you?"

"I have a feeling I will soon enough," Neji stated.

The Mist kunoichi snarled once more. "I knew I would be facing you," she said. "It wasn't hard to find out about the famed Hyuuga Neji. Top in his class. The strongest inheritor of the Byakugan in generations. Personal protege of his uncle, the head of the clan. An exceptional genius.

"Well, guess what? I was born exceptional, too. Top kunoichi in my class. The best eyes of my generation. Learned all the genin-level doujutsu of my family before I graduated from the academy." Midori paused, her eyes blazing as she glared at Neji.

"Does all this bragging have a point?" Neji said.

The green-eyed girl didn't respond directly, continuing as though he hadn't spoken. "Your talent was a blessing, wasn't it? No doubt you have a bright future ahead of you because of it. You'll become a jounin for sure. Maybe your children and grandchildren will study the techniques that the legendary Hyuuga Neji developed.

"Well, my destiny is a little different. I didn't get any honor from my talent. When they saw what I had become, the elders of my clan decided that it had been a mistake to have my parents marry. I'll never have any brothers or sisters. As for myself, it is too dangerous to let me breed at all, for risk of my genes giving birth to a line of bloodline freaks. My own mother performed the sealing that made sure that wouldn't be a problem. No techniques of mine will be passed down to future generations; I've been warned that developing my own unique techniques might be enough to convince some zealot that I'm the first to inherit a Bloodline Limit from the Haruno Clan."

"Fascinating," Neji stated flatly. "It seems to me your rage is misdirected, though."

"Oh, no," Midori stated. "They are right, and my visit here has only proved it. Didn't you even listen to the examiner a moment ago? The Hyuuga are the most feared clan in the Leaf, not the most loved. I've seen and read about the way your kind have lorded it over this village. One day, enough of them -" she waved broadly at the crowd "- will see the light and overcome their fear. Then you and your whole family will be hunted through the streets and torn to pieces like the subhuman abominations you are!"

She took a deep breath, visibly calming herself. "That won't happen today, though. Today, I'll just beat you and rip out your eyes. Just like I promised you, no?"

Neji snorted. "We'll see," he stated, falling into a Gentle Fist fighting stance. An instant later, his foe had readied herself as well.

"You two done?" Anko asked, sounding bored. When neither objected, she stated loudly, "The first quarterfinal match, Hyuuga Neji against Haruno Midori. Begin!"

The instant she uttered the last word, Neji activated his Byakugan, turning his eyes aside from Midori's. With his eyes, he wasn't disadvantaged by avoiding her gaze in the slightest. Without waiting, he moved, penetrating Midori's guard in a blur of motion. His hand jabbed out, fingers reaching for a tenketsu in his opponent's left shoulder.

Midori, moving with surprising speed, slipped away from the blow, one hand reaching up to grab Neji's wrist. The other made an open-handed strike at his stomach. Neji pulled away, darting around the attack as his other hand made for the kunoichi's unprotected left side. Midori released Neji's hand, jumping up and away from his second strike.

As she landed, she formed a quick sequence of seals, then raised one hand over her head. "Mist Concealment Technique," she breathed, fading away into the clouds of gray mist that rapidly formed. The chakra-charged haze was harder to see through than ordinary mist, but it wasn't enough to cloud Neji's sight. He easily tracked his foe as she raced toward the well Hiraki Arata had created and formed another sequence of seals.

Neji forced himself to stay still in the center of the unnatural mist as the numerous water clones Midori had created slowly moved to circle him. No need to let her know that he was watching her every move, much less that due to the imbalance in chakra levels telling which Midori was real was trivial and that her attempt to use her cloaking genjutsu only made it more obvious.

Several long moments passed before Midori made her move, two clones rushing at Neji from behind. Without even pretending to be at all surprised, he twisted between their attacks, then delivered twin palm strikes to their backs. The replications stumbled forward before dissolving back into water. "You'll have to do better than that," Neji said as he casually drove his elbow into the gut of the clone that was sneaking up on him from the side.

"I will," a Midori - a clone of course - said. Three clones moved in from the opposite side, and Neji summarily dispatched them, moving with a careful economy of motion that still left him several feet closer to where the real Midori stood. After a moment's thought, he also drew a kunai and hurled it at the replication that had spoken, disrupting it as well.

"You have eight water replications left," Neji announced, carefully subtracting one from the number of visible replications. "If you send all of them at me at once, there is a slight chance that one will land a minor blow. If you continue as you have been, I will destroy them all within two minutes."

Even though he was facing directly away from her, he could see Midori's smirk. "Good counting, freak," she said. "Too bad for you that isn't all the clones I could make." Her hands flickered, then the circle of clones doubled and redoubled. Twenty clones charged Neji from all directions.

The next several moments were a blur of motion as Neji fought his way through the replications. The first four went down in seconds, but the fifth almost scratched his arm with a kunai before taking a solid kick to its jaw. He rolled out of the way of the water shuriken that formed out of the splash of water, then jumped to his feet, disrupting two clones that tried to pounce on him from either side.

Eight clones used the distraction to to close with him, and sighing at being forced to use the technique, Neji began to whirl in place, chakra pouring from his body. "Heavenly Spin!" Tossed aside by his technique, the clones flew in every direction, turning back into mere water as they landed. Neji slowly came to a stop.

Just as he had planned, the battle had moved him to the edge of the mist, within striking distance of the real Midori. He half-turned, careful not to look directly at the kunoichi, and his fingers lightly struck the tenketsu he had aimed for at the beginning of the fight. He smirked again as both Midori's genjutsu and the mist faded away. "It's over."

Midori dissolved into water. "You really do have eyes in the back of your head," her voice came from behind him, near the well, "but if you don't pay attention it won't do you any good." She emerged from a puddle of water far too shallow to hold her. "Did you know that the amount of chakra in a water clone can be varied, so long as it doesn't exceed the maximum? A little cloaking genjutsu to keep you from looking too closely, and it was easy to make you think you'd found the real one."

Neji didn't turn to face her as she slowly walked toward him. "A clever stratagem," he admitted. When would he learn to stop underestimating his opponents' ability for misdirection? "It does not change the situation, though. I know what to look for now, and you cannot escape my gaze."

"No," Midori said, "and that's why I'll win." She smiled. "So proud of your freakish eyes, aren't you? Now that I've confirmed the field of vision they give you, I can end this fight anytime I want." Her smile turned vicious. "That time is now. Haruno Ninpou: Gaze of Torment."

Neji stiffened, and then he screamed. He stumbled forward, every slight motion sending waves of pain through him that blurred even his vision. Unable to stand, he toppled over, the ground producing more agony than a thousand full-strength blows from Lee. Even the act of screaming was causing him terrible anguish. In some almost-unclouded corner of his mind, he noted how apt Sakura's description of this technique as simply "pain" was.

Midori continued her slow advance. "Never thought about that, did you? Your inescapable gaze just means that your whole body might as well be your eyes." When she was within a handful of steps of Neji, she glanced sideways at Anko, who stood watching the battle. "Not going to end this?" she asked.

"Not yet," the examiner said after a moment.

"Can't until I make a killing strike, right? Good," Midori said, drawing a kunai. "There's still a promise I need to keep." She took another step forward.

Neji sprung into motion. Devoid of all his usual grace, he leapt upward, his fist striking Midori's jaw in a powerful uppercut. The green-eyed kunoichi went flying, landing with a heavy thud beside Anko. She struggled to rise, and Neji forced himself to take a step forward. "How?" Midori managed to ask after a moment.

It took Neji several moments to catch his breath, fighting against the pain that still swam around the edges of his consciousness. "Like all genjutsu," he said, "your technique works by affecting the victim's chakra." He had to pause to catch his breath again. "I just had to observe my own chakra flow and close enough of the right tenketsu to dull the effect."

Midori weakly muttered a curse, then fell back to the ground, letting unconsciousness claim her. An instant later, Neji abandoned his show of strength, falling to his knees even as the pain faded away. Anko appeared beside him. "You all right?" she asked.

"Just a moment," Neji said, taking a second to center himself before rapidly prodding a series of tenketsu along his side. Chakra and strength slowly began to flow back into him, and he stood, though somewhat shakily. Even the memory of the pain made him hesitant to move.

Anko nodded once. "The winner, Hyuuga Neji of the Hidden Village of the Leaf!" It was a shame, Neji thought, that his opponent wasn't awake to hear the crowd cheer his victory.

* * *

Sakura let out a deep breath as she saw Midori fall to the ground. Neji might possibly be the opponent she was least likely to be able to defeat - for much the same reasons that her brief spar with his cousin had been so humiliating - but at least he had no desire to see her suffer. Once all this was over, she was going to have to ask Neji what Midori had been talking about; she'd caught just enough words to know that it had been interesting. 

Beside her, Ino laughed harshly. "You've got nothing to be relieved about, Forehead," she said. "We're up next, and I'm going to show you just how much of a fluke our last fight was."

"Damn right," Sakura snarled back at her. "You're not going to stand a chance, Ino-pig!"

The blonde put one hand on the railing, smiling a surprisingly good-natured smile at her rival. "Race you," she said.

"Not yet," Sakura observed. "The medics are still looking at Midori."

Ino rolled her eyes. "No really," she said. "Once its time, though."

"Sure," Sakura agreed.

A moment later, Neji returned to the waiting room. Up close, he looked far more strained than he had from a distance. Only nodding at the congratulations he received, he walked to Sakura. "Thank you for your information," he said gravely. "If I hadn't been forewarned of her technique, I would not have been able to counter it."

Sakura nodded politely at him. "How did you?" she asked curiously, and after a moment the slightly older ninja curtly explained his method. Sakura grimaced to herself. It was just like her research on the counter to those chakra threads that Fuuma ninja in Rice Field Country had used. Was every counter-technique she wanted to learn going to require the Byakugan?

"On three," Ino murmured. Sakura's eyes glanced back out to the field, and saw that the medics had finished loading Midori onto a stretcher and were heading off the arena floor. Nodding at Ino, she tensed. "One," Ino declared. "Two. Three."

Sakura blurred into motion, barely noticing the now-familiar restraint of her weights. Her jump from the balcony carried her almost a quarter of the way toward the center of the field, and she hit the ground running. She could hear Ino land behind her, but not close enough. She arrived in front of the waiting Anko with enough time to start stretching before Ino caught up.

"When did you get so fast?" Ino asked as she caught her breath.

"I was training with Lee-san," Sakura told her rival.

Anko smiled slightly, and wordlessly gestured the two into position. As they complied, Sakura had to pass close to the special jounin, and she was able to catch the whispered, "Good luck," Anko offered her through still lips. Risking a slight nod in response, Sakura finished moving into her spot, then turned to face Ino.

Sakura forced her mouth into a confident smile. "You're going down, Ino-pig."

"Be more creative, Forehead," Ino returned. "That was dull."

Sakura shrugged. "I spent more time training than coming up with banter," she allowed.

"Perfect." Ino grinned at her, cracking her knuckles. "I want a good warm-up for my fight with Neji-san."

"Dream on." Sakura began to stretch slowly. Again the thought of taking off her weights occurred to her, but again she decided to see how far she could go with them on. Maybe Gai and Lee were a little contagious, she supposed. It really wasn't terribly wise. All her bravado aside, she was expecting a tough fight, and this one was important to her.

She had already met the letter of Tsunade's requirement for becoming her apprentice. "I expect you to improve your performance over your showing last time," Tsunade had told her, and by beating Ami she had advanced further than before. Yet, in her mind, this had to be the real test. At the last exam, she had been unable to defeat Ino. Now it was her chance to prove that she really had changed, that at least she wasn't chasing Ino's back anymore, even if Sasuke and Naruto seemed as distant as ever.

"All right then," Anko declared. "Let's get this thing started. Try not to take as long as you two did last time. Even with the shortened break, we've still got a lot of fights to go through." Her hand formed a seal as she enhanced her voice. "The second quarterfinal match, Yamanaka Ino versus Haruno Sakura. Begin!"

Despite the special jounin's words, neither genin moved for a long moment. Then Ino's hands went to her forehead protector, tied securely around her waist like always. "Shall we?" she asked.

Sakura nodded, quickly untying her own forehead protector. Almost in unison, they wrapped their protectors around their heads, tying them into the proper position with simple, firm movements. Sakura fell into a ready stance. "Let's go."

"Time out," Anko, surprisingly, interjected. "You two did that last time, didn't you? Why?"

"It's a sign," Ino said, "that we're taking this seriously." She grinned. "It'd take too long to explain."

"You're just too eager to start this to take the time," Sakura commented. She grinned. "Right, Ino?"

"Right," Ino agreed. "You too, I think." She took a deep breath, centering herself. "Let's go."

Sakura nodded, and she moved. The last thing Ino should be expecting was a headlong, Naruto-like charge, right? The blonde kunoichi still reacted quickly, flinging her hands up and releasing several smoke bombs. Sakura darted through the pillars of thick black smoke, hardly slowed, but Ino used the moments this bought her to fill the air with shuriken. As the projectiles neared, a kunai appeared in Sakura's hand, expertly parrying the couple of shuriken that she wasn't able to avoid.

As the last shuriken clattered to the ground, Sakura released her kunai, sending it flying straight at Ino. She jumped out of the way, just as Sakura had planned. Almost simultaneously, Sakura leapt as well, meeting her rival in midair. Unprepared, Ino was unable to ward off Sakura's fist, which planted itself in the other girl's gut. The blonde flew away from her rival, barely managing to land in an unsteady crouch.

Sakura didn't give her a moment to recover, charging again as soon as she herself had landed. This time, it was she who hurled shuriken, keeping Ino from having any time to prepare. Sakura's foot arced up, striking Ino in the face with a thunderous crack, and Sakura felt something break underneath it.

Then there was a puff of smoke, and a small log flew away from her. Taking a deep breath, Sakura lowered her leg, making a half-turn to face Ino. The blonde was crouching perhaps a dozen paces away, breathing heavily. "You really were training with Lee-san," she said.

"Of course," Sakura said.

"It seems like it would be suicide to try and fight you with taijutsu," Ino continued. "It's a good thing that wasn't the plan." Her hands flickered through seals. "Replication Technique!" Two more Ino appeared in identical crouches, one on either side of the real one. Though Sakura watched carefully, Ino made no attempt that she could see to surreptitiously switch places with one of the clones.

"The plan?" Sakura prompted after a moment.

"It took a lot of bullying," Ino said, "but I managed to get Shikamaru to help me come up with this one. He even taught me the technique I needed to pull it off." Her hands moved through more seals, echoed by her clones, and all three sets finished on the same, familiar seal.

"No way," Sakura breathed.

"Shadow Imitation Technique!" the three Ino shouted in unison, their shadows darkening and thickening before racing at Sakura. The pink-haired girl jumped away, but the moment she landed she saw that one of the three shadows had already been moving to her landing point. A desperate half-roll, half-dive managed to get her out of the way of that one, and her training with Gai and Lee gave her the speed and reaction time to get to her feet and on the move again before it could double back to ensnare her.

Yet, as it chased her, the other two shadows were coming in from either side. Sakura jumped again, this time heading straight for Ino. In an instant, two of the shadows retracted, forming a protective barrier around the blonde. Sakura landed just outside the dark perimeter, jumping again the instant she landed to avoid the inevitable quick probe by Ino's shadows. As she landed once more, the three shadows separated, forming flailing dark tendrils that whipped across the arena floor at her.

Taking a brief moment to find a path, Sakura darted through Ino's shadows, closing in once more on the kunoichi. Again, Ino retracted a shadow to serve as a defensive barrier, but this time Sakura wasn't quite quick enough to avoid its rapid retreat, and it brushed the edge of her own shadow.

Sakura froze, but an instant later realized that she actually felt no restraint on her movements. Blinking in surprise, she rolled aside mere moments before another Ino's shadows, sneaking up from behind her, would have made contact. Her agile mind quickly figured out the reason. "The replication's shadows can't capture me," Sakura stated.

"Damn," Ino muttered, retracting all her shadows. "It won't matter if you can't tell which one is real!" she shouted. The three shadows inched forward, crossing over each other in a dark circle in front of Ino, then separating again into three individual lines of darkness, racing at Sakura from different directions.

The pink-haired kunoichi grimaced. Ino was right, there was no way to tell which shadow was which. Once again, she began to jump and jump, staying just a step ahead of Ino's pursuing shadows. She needed some time to think, damn it!

"Got you," Ino snarled as Sakura landed. A quick glance showed that there was no shadow near her, only a handful of discarded shuriken… and wires attached to to them, leading back to Ino. Sakura moved, but not quickly enough as the thin wires animated themselves, arcing into the air and swiftly wrapping themselves around her. Just barely, Sakura managed to keep one arm free, but her other was bound tightly to her side.

Ino's replications vanished in puffs of smoke, and the real Ino's shadow returned to normal. Sakura tested her bindings, noting without surprise that wires were charged with Ino's chakra and wouldn't easily be cut. "All that was just to get me into the trap you prepared with the shuriken you threw at the start of the fight," she stated after a moment.

Ino nodded, standing. "That wasn't really Shadow Imitation Technique," she explained after a moment. "Shikamaru called it the Shadow Art Technique. It just lets you manipulate your shadow."

"Could Shikamaru capture me with a replication's shadow?" Sakura asked. Part of the reason for her question was simple curiosity. The other was to keep Ino talking while she thought of a way out of this. The beginnings of a plan began to come together, and she slowly moved her free hand behind her back, reaching for her pouch. Carefully, she slipped her hand inside, feeling for what she was going to need.

"Don't ask me." Ino yanked hard on her end of the wires, almost making Sakura fall. "The question is, are you going to yield yourself or are you going to make me force you to yield?"

"You must be joking. I'm never going to yield to you," Sakura replied. "Do you really think I'd just accept defeat so easily? I'm not poor little Sakura-chan helplessly trailing after you anymore. I haven't been for a long time, and this time I'm going to prove it."

"Damn it, Sakura!" Ino shouted. "You think I don't know that?" For a moment, real rage was visible on her face, so different than the almost-mock anger that usually passed between the pair of rivals. "If that's all you want, fine! I admit it, you've grown. You're good, almost as good at me, better at some things."

"Almost as good?" Sakura forced herself to laugh, hoping the reaction she was about to provoke would distract Ino from her preparations. "I'm better than you."

Ino shook with anger, but visibly forced herself to calm down. "Damn it!" she repeated. "What is with you? Can't you get it into to your stupid, giant forehead that I'm the closest thing to a friend you've ever had and not just some… just some wall for you to overcome?" Her voice turned almost pleading. "Can't you stop trying over and over to beat me so that we can just be friends again?"

For what seemed like an eternity, Sakura wasn't able to say anything, shocked by Ino's decision to utter the forbidden word. Ino herself seemed just as surprised. Finally, Sakura responded. "No," she said. "I can't. I… I need this, Ino. There are promises I have to keep."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ino demanded.

"You've always been one step ahead of me," Sakura stated. "I can't settle for that. I never could, really, but now more than ever. If I can't close that gap, how am I ever supposed to catch up with…" She trailed off, not able to determine what name to say - Sasuke or Naruto. "I'm sick of always being the weak one, always being protected," she continued after a moment. "I'm never going to just settle for watching anyone's back again. I'm going to get stronger and stronger, until I'm strong enough to protect everyone." She laughed softly. "Maybe that's my way of the ninja."

Ino's eyes watered slightly. "I understand," was all she said. Then her hands slowly formed seals. "Mind-Body Switch -" Sakura's free hand moved, flinging a kunai at Ino. The blonde kunoichi darted aside, easily avoiding the weapon. "It's not going to be that -" The second kunai that had been hidden in the first's shadow embedded itself in Ino's leg. For a long moment, Ino stared at the explosive tag wrapped around the hilt. "Sakura," she breathed. "You wouldn't."

Then the tag exploded. The force of the blast sent Ino flying, the wires she held falling from her hands. With Ino's chakra no longer running along them, Sakura easily wrestled herself free, then turned to face Ino, who was struggling to rise. The blonde's leg was a mess, but through some force of will she managed to stand unsteadily, glaring at Sakura. "I can't believe you did that," Ino snarled.

"It was a weak explosive tag," Sakura forced herself to say flatly. "You'll be fine."

Ino made a fist. "Let's finish this," she said, no weakness in her voice despite her injury.

Sakura echoed her rival's motion. "Fine." In unison, the two charged each other.

* * *

"Idiotic," Tenten stated as she watched the fight. "Yamanaka can't last another minute like that, but Haruno's risking everything on a stupid suicidal charge. Just like she did last time, but this time she's got no sane reason to do it." 

Not even Lee protested, though his eyes grew more and more worried as the two kunoichi below drew neared. "Sakura-san's form is all wrong," he stated. "She's leaving herself wide open."

Neji studied the fighters for a moment, then nodded to himself. "It's over." Below, the two rivals met in the center of the field. Sakura's punch went wide, but Ino's easily penetrated the pink-haired girl's misplaced defenses, delivering a powerful blow to the side of Sakura's face.

There was a puff of smoke, and Ino's knuckles scraped against wood. Sakura came at her rival from above and behind before Ino had a chance to react, striking Ino in the back of the head. The blonde stumbled into the still-falling log that Sakura had used for the Replacement Technique. Sakura, breathing heavily, only watched silently as her rival slowly collapsed, unconscious.

Neji ignored his own theoretical rival's display of exuberance as Anko announced Sakura's victory. Haruno had left an obvious opening to keep her opponent from coming up with any trickery of her own. It still would have been wisest to avoid the confrontation at all, but no matter. It seemed as though Haruno Sakura was to be his opponent for the semi-final round, most definitely not something he would have expected at the start of these exams.

Almost reflexively, he activated his Byakugan and began to study the girl, pondering the fight that was to come.

* * *

"She's done well," Homura told Tsunade quietly. "It's her next fight that'll be the interesting one." 

"Oh?" Tsunade prompted, even though she thought she knew his meaning.

"Uzuki Ami definitely wasn't close to chuunin-level," Homura said. "The Yamanaka girl is probably on the borderline, but not because of her raw strength. The Hyuuga will force Sakura to show us how she handles going up against a stronger opponent."

"That'll probably determine whether she becomes a chuunin," Koharu interjected. "If she reacts badly, it'll ruin her chances."

"And a good showing could guarantee it," Tsunade finished.

"And what are our hosts speaking so quietly about?" Mitarashi Kimi said lightly. "I'm feeling left out."

"Nothing of import," Tsunade responded, straightening in her seat. "It looks like the next fight is starting." It was the remaining Mist - the boy - against the kunoichi from Gai's team, the weapons expert. Tsunade didn't really know enough about either fighter to say who might win; she'd read Tenten's file, of course, but statistics on paper were notoriously poor at accurately representing a ninja's real fighting strength. It was only the lack of any better, practical alternative that made them at all worthwhile as an administrative tool.

Matsuyo Nissho studied the two genin far below as they waited for Anko to give the word for the match to begin. "Unless the Mist boy has a powerful anti-shuriken technique up his sleeve," the Waterfall jounin ventured cautiously, "I'd say the girl takes the win."

Tsunade frowned slightly. She was inclined to agree, but one thing had been bugging her about this Aoki Saburo's last fight. Yuhara Maya's attack had clearly thrown him with substantial force into the arena wall, enough so that he should have been stunned or unconscious. However, while he'd faked that, he hadn't seemed to suffer any real damage. From this distance, Tsunade hadn't been able to precisely determine how he'd defended himself. "I don't suppose you'd care to comment, Mitarashi-san?"

The purple-haired woman, who'd been in a bit more of a foul mood than usual since Hyuuga Neji had defeated Midori, shook her head. "I'll leave it a surprise, Hokage-sama." Below, Kimi's sister announced the beginning of the match, and after a moment of tense stillness, Tenten filled the air between her and Saburo with shuriken.

Saburo backed away rapidly, toward that too-convenient well created by Hiraki Arata's technique. All the water element users were getting a potential advantage in the fights from it. With well-timed dodges and parries, the Mist boy managed to avoid the worst of Tenten's attacks, though a handful of shuriken managed to score minor scratches. Clearly trying to end the fight quickly, the kunoichi charged, her hands flicking through seals as she spat a small fireball at Saburo to cover her advance.

Tsunade's frown deepened. It was clear to her that the weapons expert was still drained from her match against the Akimichi boy in the first round. Her movements were much slower, and from the weakness of her Fireball Technique she was trying to conserve chakra. It looked like stamina might be a problem for her if the fight dragged on. That made things closer, even without counting Saburo's potential trump card of a defense.

Below, Saburo seemed to be thinking much the same thing, as he stopped his retreat after rolling aside to avoid Tenten's flames. Instead, he started a charge of his own, rapidly closing the distance. In an instant, Tenten's motions regained the grace and fluidity they had been missing. A scroll appeared in her hands, and she summoned from it a short, straight sword.

Saburo barely caught her first strike with a kunai, then danced away from his suddenly more dangerous-seeming opponent. Tenten began to circle him slowly, her sword ready to attack if he tried to break out. The Mist ninja rotated in place, following Tenten, his own weapon still in hand.

"Stalemate," Nissho observed.

Utatane Koharu coughed disapprovingly. "Not for long," she stated. An instant later, Tenten got too close to the well, and Saburo's water clone burst from the shallow water. Tenten reacted instantly, spinning about and hurling her sword like it was a kunai, but it didn't avail her. The replication exploded before her weapon reached it, the blast of water knocking her to the ground.

In less than a second, Saburo was upon her, kunai going for her throat. Before he could manage that, Tenten kicked up, catching him in the chest. As Saburo went flying, Tenten managed to regain her feet. Her opponent twisted around in midair, hurling a small container at her. A kunai pierced it an instant later, and there was another burst of water, though this time Tenten was well out of range.

Saburo landed on his feet, but he hesitated, clearly sorting through his options. Tenten took advantage of his hesitation, taking out two familiar-seeming scrolls and setting them on either side of herself. Tsunade shifted in her seat. This next exchange of attacks was going to settle everything. From her guess, Tenten didn't have enough chakra left to fight well after using that technique again, but if Saburo didn't have some sort of defense he was going to get skewered.

The Mist ninja seemed to reach the same conclusion, sprinting for the shallow well even as Tenten's smoke dragons spiraled up into the air. He rolled into the water mere instants before the shower of kunai, shuriken and other weapons passed over head. Tsunade could imagine the kunoichi snarling that it wasn't over yet as she jumped once more into the air, wires dangling from her hands, and directed her weapons to hover over Saburo's improvised shelter. With one final, grand gesture, Tenten released the projectiles and let them rain down over the well.

As she landed, Mitarashi Kimi smiled. "It's over," she stated. As if she had somehow signaled her student, the well's small supply of water exploded outward, carrying the weapons with it as it burst from its confines. Tenten was flung against the wall under the waiting room's balcony. When the water receded, Tsunade could tell that she was bleeding from several small wounds where her own weapons had struck home.

Saburo, soaking wet but unharmed, emerged from the now-nearly empty well, grinning fiercely. Before his opponent could recover, her was at her back, one of her own kunai in his hands and at her throat. A few seconds later, Tenten had yielded and Anko announced Saburo as the victor of the third quarterfinal match.

Tsunade frowned to herself. Saburo must have some sort of special defense, but he'd done a very good job of hiding just what it was. The evidence suggested that it required a large source of water, but just what form it took was still unclear. Had she been closer, she might have been able to figure it out already, but not from up here. She glanced sideways at the still-smirking Kimi and resisted the urge to sigh.

Down below, the last two fighters for the quarterfinal round had positioned themselves. Anko's voice came, announcing the fight. "Hiraki Arata from the Hidden Waterfall and the Leaf's Rock Lee. Begin!"

Tsunade didn't have any trouble following Lee's movement, but it was obvious that the Waterfall boy did. Lee came at him from behind and above, catching him completely by surprise. Only quick reflexes and luck kept Arata in the fight, as he barely managed to duck under a kick that would have left him unconscious. Lee didn't give him a chance to breathe, coming back around to his front and catching him in the gut with a fierce punch.

Arata stumbled backward, throwing up a hand. Lee paused, clearly waiting for his opponent to speak, and Tsunade knew that this was the first clear look at the green-clad ninja many had gotten since the match had begun. Tsunade shook her head slowly. That sort of speed was crazy for a genin, particularly since unless she missed her guess he was still wearing some weights.

"That was pathetic," Kimi declared as Anko announced that Arata had conceded the match.

"There's no dishonor in acknowledging a foe you can't beat," Nissho protested.

Surprisingly, Utatane Koharu spoke up. "You might not know, Mitarashi-san, that the only person to be promoted in the last exams conceded his only fight." Tsunade almost smirked. Kimi must have managed to really irritate Koharu. Still, she would probably recommend against giving Arata a promotion. Lee couldn't have kept that speed up for too long, not without removing his weights. Even then, there were ways that Lee could have beaten.

As Lee and Arata left the field, Tsunade smiled to herself. She really was looking forward to this next fight.

* * *

Sakura was really not looking forward to this fight. If Hyuuga Hinata had been terrible opponent for her, it didn't leave words in her rather broad vocabulary to describe just how awful a match-up her cousin was. Even Lee himself had never bested Neji with straight taijutsu, so what good she could expect her few weeks of training with him to accomplish? The Hyuuga prodigy's Byakugan was going to make using genjutsu tricky at best. She still had no ninjutsu that could penetrate the Heavenly Spin, and Anko had laughed when she'd asked her to teach her one. 

"That's a little more than you can handle, Sakura-chan," Anko had told her. "I know a couple, but they're not the sort of thing I plan on ever teaching anyone. The trick, Sakura-chan, is not to try to blast through a Hyuuga's defense like that Uzumaki brat. You just have to find a way around it." She'd grinned almost mockingly at Sakura. "You have a brain, girl. You're going to need to use it to as an equalizer if you mean to win."

Sakura took a deep breath as she studied Neji. Her mind was her weapon, and luckily she had given thought to this battle and prepared for it. She did have a plan. She was just going to have to hope that it worked and didn't just make her look like an idiot instead. She forced herself to stop staring at her opponent, instead looking at Anko. "Whenever he's ready, Mitarashi-sensei," she said, and the special jounin grinned at her.

"Sakura-san." Neji's voice was grave and serious. "I do not say this to insult you, but you cannot win this fight. I have no desire to hurt you, but I may be forced to unless you withdraw."

Anger bubbled up inside of Sakura. "I don't want to be protected," she said, "and I thought Naruto taught you something about surprises."

"As Kiba-san said before the exams began," Neji responded, "you are not Uzumaki Naruto."

"Damn right, I'm not," Sakura snarled, kneeling down. She slowly took off her weights, placing them carefully on the ground, then straightened. "I'm Haruno Sakura, and I'm going to win this fight."

"Your bravado is pointless," Neji said. "I can see your fear. Besides," he continued with a smirk, "Lee is my teammate. I assure you that I took your weights into consideration."

Was he deliberately trying to goad her? Sakura's eyes narrowed at the thought that Hyuuga Neji, of all people, might consider her a difficult enough foe for it to be worth the effort to try and gain a psychological edge. She slowly cracked her knuckles. "Let's just get this over with," she declared, and Neji frowned slightly.

"Very well," Neji agreed. "I am ready, Mitarashi-sensei."

Anko nodded. "The first semi-final match," she declared loudly. "Hyuuga Neji will fight Haruno Sakura." She nodded sharply. "Begin!"

Even before the word had faded, Sakura was almost upon Neji, running as quickly as she could, a kunai in her hands. Neji snorted, his Byakugan activating a second before Sakura reached him. Then, with perfect accuracy, his fingers struck at the air half a foot to Sakura's left.

Sakura's genjutsu faded, revealing to all the observers that Neji had struck her in the stomach. She stood frozen for a moment, then stumbled backward as Neji struck her a second time, falling over as she bit at her tongue to hold back a scream of pain. So this was what being hit by the Gentle Fist felt like, a cold analytical part of her observed. How the hell had Naruto gotten up after suffering so many strikes like that, another part of her demanded to know.

Slowly, she forced herself to her feet, finding the she now stood a few paces to Neji's right. Arrogantly, he hadn't turned to face her, and his Byakugan was deactivated. "Please withdraw," he demanded. "A genin-level genjutsu like the Displacement Technique won't work on me."

Sakura didn't say anything as her hands formed seals, slowly concentrated on using her almost perfect control to channel chakra around the tenketsu Neji had closed with his first attack as she re-activated the technique. Still without responding, she charged Neji again.

With a sigh, Neji spun to face her headlong charge, reactivating his Byakugan and striking another tenketsu. Sakura stumbled backward to avoid the follow-up attack, tripping over her own feet. When she rose, she saw that she was now facing the waiting room's balcony, when at the start of the fight her back had been to it. Her hands blurred once more as she activated the technique Kurenai had given her one last time.

Once more she charged, but this time she stopped before Neji struck, darting to his side, and almost managed to land a blow before he sent her flying with two Gentle Fist strikes. This time, though, she'd managed to shield her tenketsu, and she smiled as she landed near where she'd been standing when the match had begun. All the pieces were in place.

"Why do you smile?" Neji asked as he relaxed his Byakugan, perhaps to conserve chakra, while Sakura slowly stood.

"Because I have you just where I want you," she replied, forcing arrogance into her voice.

Neji just smirked. "The explosive tags you planted all around me? Clever, but not clever enough. Your genjutsu made it harder to notice, but I saw you on the last attack. You know that I can see where they are."

"You're assuming I'm just going to let you pick your way through them," Sakura replied. She deliberately pulled out a package of shuriken, wrapped in black plastic. Carefully, she unwrapped them.

"Poisoned?" Neji asked.

"Of course," Sakura lied. "I looked it up. It isn't illegal, and I was able to get my hands on some. One scratch from these and the fight is over, Neji-san."

"I just have to not get scratched, then." Neji actually sounded amused. "You've positioned me where I can't use my absolute defense, but I assure you I won't need it."

"We'll see," Sakura stated, and then she filled the air with her shuriken. A kunai appeared in Neji's hands. Sakura waited for just the right moment. She'd very carefully timed how long it had taken Neji to activate his Byakugan during each of her charges for just this purpose. Her hands blurred, an instant too late for Neji to be able to use his Bloodline Limit to penetrate the genjutsu she was about to work. "Shuriken Perfect Replication Technique!"

The handful of shuriken multiplied, doubling and doubling in number as they flew at Neji. He had barely a moment to decide which evil to choose, then he began to spin. The first whirls of chakra he expelled were enough to fling Sakura's real shuriken away, but the explosive tags all around him began to detonate as they were caught in his defense. Battered by the blasts, he stumbled, his spin halting, and just for that moment, he was vulnerable.

Sakura knew she wasn't going to get a second chance at this. The key to beating Neji was to find a way past his defense, then exploit that hole to win before he could recover. He wasn't the type to fall for same sort of tricks twice. Glad that she didn't have to waste time removing her weights, she blurred into motion, faster than she had ever moved before.

In less than an instant, she was inside Neji's guard. Her foot darted upward, catching Neji in the jaw and sending him into the air. As he hung there, almost seeming to float, Sakura launched herself into the air, reappearing directly behind her opponent. She punched at him, but Neji expertly deflected the strike, as well as the next several.

"Leaf Shadow Dance," he said calmly. "There's no way Gai-sensei or Lee would teach you Lotus, and copying the weaker half of Lee's moves won't let you beat me, Sakura-san."

Sakura forced one of Neji's smirks onto her face. "Who said I was copying Lee-san?" she asked, and her foe's silver eyes widened as he realized just how badly out of position Sakura's attacks had left him. Using him for leverage, Sakura rotated herself in midair, then brought her foot down at full force onto Neji's chest. "Lion Combo!"

Neji flew away from her but Sakura only snarled, "I'm not done yet," thrusting one arm toward him. Repressing a shudder at the crawling sensation under her arm, she shouted, "Hidden Snake Hands!" Four snakes burst out from under her sleeve, spiraling through the air at Neji. The Hyuuga prodigy futilely raised his hands to guard, but the snakes darted past them, sinking their fangs into him.

Channeling chakra to increase her strength, Sakura yanked back her arm, pulling Neji back up toward her. Even as she formed a one-handed seal with that hand, the snakes retracted themselves, slithering back into her sleeve. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" she screamed as Neji seemed to fly toward her. Her other hand swiped at the air, raking Neji with talons of fire.

Then, she landed, breathing heavily and almost out of chakra. She looked up and saw Anko. "Is it over?" Sakura asked. Anko didn't answer, and the pink-haired kunoichi turned to where she had heard Neji fall. She swallowed when she saw the smoldering log that lay there. Slowly, she stood, turning about to face Neji.

The Hyuuga's face was pale, and he was clutching at his shoulder. "The snakes actually were poisonous," he said.

"Yes." Sakura took a deep breath. "Nothing fatal, just enough to start impairing your chakra control."

"I probably have about three minutes to end this," Neji declared, and Sakura nodded. After a moment, Neji bowed shallowly to her. "Please forgive me for underestimating you," he said formally. "I shall stop holding back now and give you the fight you deserve." Sakura barely had time to swallow before Neji was inside her guard. She slowly stumbled backward, somehow unable to move effectively as Neji's eyes caught hers and he settled into a stance that she recognized too well. "You are now within the range of my divination," Neji intoned.

A curse escaped Sakura's lips as she raced to form seals. "Now or never," she muttered.

"Eight Divination Signs," Neji continued as though she hadn't spoken. "Sixty-four Palms of the Hand. Two strikes!" His hands jabbed out twice. There was a puff of smoke, and Sakura was replaced by the burnt log Neji had used a moment before. "Too slow," he declared as he pivoted in place to meet Sakura's counter-attack from above and below. "Four strikes!"

Again, Sakura used the Replacement Technique with the log, and again she was unable to gain any advantage. "Eight strikes!" One strike landed, closing another tenketsu, before she managed to get the log into position. This time, she just tried to escape Neji's range, but she lacked the preparation time or chakra to cover enough distance using the Replacement Technique. "Sixteen strikes!" Half landed, and the log shattered under the other half. Sakura struggled to raise leadened arms to defend herself as Neji paused for just an instant. "Thirty-two strikes!" Again and again he hit her, striking so frequently that she wasn't even able to fall. Sakura could barely even think past the clouds of pain and unnatural exhaustion as he declared, "Sixty-four -"

Anko grabbed his hand. "That's enough," she said. Neji nodded, and as though that was a sign, Sakura finally collapsed. It took her several long moments to catch her breath, and longer to rise to her knees. Anko raised her hand. "The winner, Hyuuga Neji," she declared, and the crowd began to cheer.

Sakura was able to force herself to say, "Congratulations." She pulled a small vial out of her pocket. "Antidote."

Neji took it. "Thank you," he said simply. He paused, then continued. "Please allow me to re-open your tenketsu." After a long moment, Sakura nodded, and his hands once more began to prod at her. This time, chakra filled her with each gentle strike, and within seconds she was feeling much better.

"Thank you," she said weakly. Neji just nodded and started to walk back to the waiting room.

Anko helped Sakura stand. "You did well," she whispered hoarsely. "Very well." Then she let her go, and Sakura began the long walk back herself.

* * *

When Sakura made it back to the waiting room, Ino was waiting for her. Oddly, the first thing Sakura noticed was not the bandages wrapped around her leg, but that she had once more tied her forehead protector around her waist. Ino's eyes sought out Sakura's own forehead protector, still resting properly on her forehead. "Sakura," the blonde said flatly. 

The other girl swallowed nervously. "Ino," she responded. What could she say?

"Lee-san's fight is about to start." It was Chouji who spoke, and for the first time Sakura noticed that he was standing next to his teammate.

Still unable to take her eyes of of Ino, Sakura just said, "Yes." She'd passed the green-clad ninja on her way up to the waiting room, and only by reminding him that he was about to be late to his own fight had she managed to halt his confused torrent of congratulations, commiserations, and promises to avenge her defeat in the finals.

"You were wearing weights," Ino stated. "All during our fight."

Sakura wasn't able to do anything but repeat herself. "Yes." From the field below came Anko's voice, announcing the beginning of Lee's semifinal match against Saburo.

Ino's eyes were hard. "I see."

Sakura waited to see if her rival would say anything else. When she didn't, the pink-haired girl moved to head to where she could watch the fight.

Ino grabbed her shoulder as she passed. "I'm not going to settle for watching your back either," she hissed, and then she released Sakura.

"Good," Sakura found herself saying, then she continued on her way. A moment later, Ino and Chouji had joined her at the railing. Sakura's eyes narrowed as she studied the battlefield. Saburo was not taking Lee's immense speed advantage as badly as Arata had, and he was slowly managing to make his way toward the well the Waterfall ninja had created in the first round.

Barely visible to Sakura as even a blur of motion, Lee moved in from behind Saburo, but the Mist ninja seemed to anticipate his attack. His dodge carefully positioned him even closer to his obvious objective, but Lee didn't let up, rapidly circling around Saburo, then charging in from the left. Once more Saburo managed to evade and advance, and Sakura's frown deepened.

"That's crazy," Ino muttered beside her. "How can he be reading Lee's attacks like that?"

Sakura glanced aside, and noticed the Neji's Byakugan was activated. For a long moment, he was silent, even though he had to have seen Sakura's look. Then, he spoke. "There's a shroud of chakra surrounding him," he said softly. "Even though he can't see Lee, his chakra reacts when Lee attacks, giving him just enough time to dodge."

Below, Saburo had finally reached the well, and his careful retreat halted. He met Lee's next charge without flinching, standing almost perfectly still as Lee's fist flew at his face. A disc of water appeared, harmlessly halting the taijutsu expert's attack. Saburo laughed. "Now that I have enough water, there's no way you're penetrating my defense." Lee backed away cautiously, and Saburo tossed a small cannister after him, hands blurring into seals. "Suiton: Water Explosive Technique!"

Lee vanished in a blur of motion before the burst of water hit him, reappearing behind his foe and delivering a flurry of high-speed punches and kicks. Nothing was accomplished but sending a few splashes of water flying, and Saburo didn't even turn around. "The water interacts with my chakra," he explained. "I cover myself with a field of chakra, and whenever something enters it the water moves to block."

"An absolute defense?" Ino asked disbelievingly.

"Of course not," Neji replied with a snort. "There's far too many weaknesses for that title."

Sakura closed her eyes as she thought things through. "There's a finite amount of water in his chakra field," she announced after a moment. "Rapid attacks from multiple directions should penetrate the technique."

"It has to be costing a lot of chakra too," Chouji added.

Below, Lee had backed away again, but he was smiling. "Interesting," he said calmly. "I had hoped to save this for the final fight." He slowly removed his weights, then casually flung them aside. The arena's wall shuddered as they hit, leaving tiny craters. Then Lee vanished, and even Sakura's keen eyes couldn't detect any trace of his motion.

There was a splash of water in front of Saburo's face, then another at the back of his feet. Another invisible attack came at his left side, then at his right. Again and again Lee struck all around the increasingly frightened Mist ninja. It was almost like watching Lee's fight against Gaara in the last exams again.

Then Saburo formed a rapid set of seals, and more water flew out of the small well. It joined the water that rapidly spinning around him, constantly deflecting Lee's numerous attacks from every direction. For a moment, the attacks stopped, but then Lee reappeared in the air above Saburo, his foot aiming directly for the other boy's head.

Water deflected the attack, but Lee simply used the defense for leverage, pushing himself up into the air and the brining his foot down on Saburo again. More water raced to halt the stronger blow, and Lee continued to hammer at that spot until it seemed like a small pond was floating over Saburo's head. Then Lee appeared in front of Saburo, inside his protective field, and his foot solidly struck at the Mist ninja's jaw.

Saburo crashed through the water overhead, flying into the air. Lee was waiting for him there, the bandages wrapped around his arms unwrapped. "Lotus," Neji stated. "That's overkill."

Despite the Mist genin's struggles, the bandages wrapped themselves around him, tightly binding him. "What the hell is this!" he shouted. Sakura noticed that Anko had moved directly below the entangled fighters, a worried expression on her face.

Lee didn't answer at first, turning himself and Saburo around in midair so that their heads were pointed to the ground. He spun the two around rapidly, shouting, "Primary Lotus!" Mere instants before the two would have crashed into the arena floor, he released his foe, flipping away to land lightly facing the impact sight.

There, Anko had caught the Mist ninja, staggering slightly under the force. Sakura could almost swear that she heard the examiner cursing and complaining that she'd almost broken her arms stopping the boy's fall. "Winner of the second semi-final match," she said as she set Saburo down in a tone of voice that made Sakura certain that she'd heard the special jounin correctly, "Rock Lee of the Hidden Village of the Leaf."

* * *

Mitarashi Anko grimaced as she waited for the last of her sister's students to make his way off the field and for Hyuuga Neji to make his way onto it. Her arms were going to be sore for weeks because of this little Gai-clone's overkill finishing move. He probably didn't even appreciate how tough it had been to keep his opponent alive. Not that it hadn't been a little tempting to just let the Mist ninja die. A casualty or two made a Chuunin Exam much more memorable. 

Still, as Anko had to remind herself every so often, she wasn't that sort of person. Sure, it would have been exciting, but her job was to make sure nobody was killed or seriously injured in the exam, if at all possible, and as much as she'd like to spite Kimi, the political consequences of letting Saburo die would have been more than a little troublesome. Besides, Tsunade would be pissed at her, and Anko sure didn't need to give the Hokage another reason to be mad.

Beside her, Rock Lee was stretching, trying to warm-up for the forthcoming final match. His moves were fluid, but Anko's trained eye could easily see the tiredness in them. It was another reason that using Lotus had been foolish. Nobody could put their body under that kind of strain without suffering for it, and Lee had another fight coming up immediately after that one.

Anko sighed. At least he hadn't tried to use Secondary Lotus like in the last exam. Tsunade had made her promise to intervene if it looked like Lee was going for that move, saying she had no intention of developing another miracle surgery, either for the boy or his victims. It was probably wise, but Anko knew that she'd never hear the end of it from Gai if she had to do that.

Finally, the other of Gai's male students - thankfully not nearly so Gai-ish - arrived, and Anko addressed the pair as they moved without prompting into position. "All right. You guys are the last, so let's give everyone a good show to remember today by. This isn't the time to go soft."

Hyuuga Neji smirked. "Are you ready, Lee?" he asked.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time, Neji-kun," the green-clad ninja replied softly. "I'm ready."

Neji nodded. "Examiner?"

Anko raised her hand and amplified her voice. "The final match," she announced, and then she had to pause as the cheers of the crowd washed over her. "Both from the Hidden Village of the Leaf, Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee." She paused as both ninja fell into their respective fighting stances. "Begin!"

Lee charged, moving rapidly despite his obvious exhaustion. Neji leaned aside to avoid the first punch, countering with a Gentle Fist strike at Lee's chest. Lee vanished, reappearing behind Neji with a kick aimed at the back of his rival's head. Neji rolled forward, springing back to his feet as soon as the threat was past. He tensed, clearly - to Anko at least - pondering trying to end the fight quickly with the same combo he'd used on Sakura, but decided against it, instead turning to face Lee and backing away cautiously.

Anko frowned. Actually, all of Neji's moves had been oddly restrained. Was he holding back? He hadn't seemed the type to really go soft on someone like Lee. They had to know each other well, so trying to hide his true strength wasn't a good explanation. Besides, this was the final fight. There wasn't any need to hold things in reserve now.

Lee, too, seemed hesitant, not pressing Neji, but instead taking a few steps back himself. "You could have gotten me there, Neji-kun," he stated.

"If I could have, I would have," Neji responded. "You know me."

"I do." Lee was silent for several moments, and neither combatant showed any signs of moving toward his foe.

Anko frowned, approaching the pair. "Is something wrong?" she asked after almost thirty seconds more of stillness.

"I concede." The two spoke in what seemed like perfect unison, and Anko wasn't able to even guess at who had started first. Was there even a precedent for this sort of thing?

Neji smirked slightly. "Lee, you idiot," he said, almost fondly.

Anko blinked several times. "All right," she demanded angrily after a moment. "Somebody is going to explain to me what the hell is going on here. You two just want to withdraw? In the final match? Aren't you supposed to be rivals?"

"Sakura-san's antidote was not as effective as her poison, I fear," Neji stated after a moment. "My chakra control is degraded enough that I cannot use the Gentle Fist precisely enough to defeat Lee without killing him. I have no desire to do that."

"And you?" Anko asked, turning to Lee.

"I don't want my victory to be like this," Lee replied. "When I finally defeat Neji-kun, I want it to be when we're both at full strength."

Anko groaned. "I can't force you to fight," she said regretfully after a moment. "Whichever of you retracts his concession first will get the credit for the win." As she expected, neither of the two made a move to do that. She rolled her eyes. "Both fighters withdraw," she finally announced sourly. "The final match ends in a draw."

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings 

1) And that's a wrap on the longest chapter yet. Note to self, for future reference: do not plot large tournaments in stories where the format demands the entire tournament be covered in one chapter.

2) Not coincidentally, this chapter took fairly long to write. Still, in my book, any chapter whose writing time is measured in weeks rather than months is a good thing.

3) As is ever the case, I welcome any and all comments. My thanks go out to everyone who commented on the FFML, especially Eimii and William Little.

4) Next time, in One Hundred Days Chapter Twelve, Treachery and Deceit: Jiraiya and Naruto begin to realize that they're in much more danger than they had thought in the Lightning Country. But possibly less than they'd be at home, because the Mist and Sound are finally ready to make their move…

Draft Started: June 6, 2006  
Draft Finished: July 6, 2006  
Draft Released: July 6, 2006  
Final Released: July 13, 2006


	13. Chapter 12: Treachery and Deceit

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 12: Treachery and Deceit

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, donkeys!

* * *

**Day Seventy-one**

"Yakushi-sama."

Kabuto glanced up at his group's sole kunoichi's soft murmur. "What is it, Koyanagi- san?" he asked. The other ten Sound ninja went about their business throughout the dark forest clearing unconcerned, knowing that the woman would have acted differently if her recently finished patrol had turned up any threat.

"Our hunter ninja friend from the Mist is returning." The hint of distaste in the brown -haired woman's voice made her past as a missing ninja evident. While she had been from the Valley, not the Mist, there was little love lost between her kind and hunter ninja from any village.

Kabuto adjusted his glasses slightly. "The same one, huh?" He stood slowly, turning around. "Greetings, Hunter-san."

The masked woman didn't seem surprised at being spotted. "Yakushi-san," she said flatly, then leapt from the tree branch she was perched on, landing smoothly before Orochimaru's right hand man. "You have not had any difficulties, I take it."

"None." Kabuto smiled politely. "Your own other missions were successful, as well?"

"One could say that," the Mist ninja responded, and Kabuto's smile turned almost genuine.

"You met with Orochimaru-sama," he concluded aloud.

The foreign kunoichi tensed, and in response Koyanagi, standing behind her commander, let a hand rest over the hilt of a kunai. The rest of the Sound ninja stirred, but made no obvious preparations for battle. "How do you know that?" the hunter ninja finally asked.

Kabuto chuckled softly. "The tone of your voice. Everyone is like that after their first meeting with Orochimaru-sama. Besides, the time since your last visit is just enough time to travel to the Sound Village, visit the Hill Country to check on the Valley, then get new orders from the commander of the Mist forces here."

"You conclude much from very little." The masked kunoichi almost seemed to have no fear of the Sound ninja surrounding her, but Kabuto could read her nervousness easily enough.

"I accept the compliment." Kabuto's face and voice turned flat. "Unless you mean to imply that I have been communicating with Orochimaru-sama in contravention of your orders, Hunter-san?" That was the case, of course. It really had been a little stupid of him to needle the hunter ninja like that, but it was fun.

The was a long silence, and then the hunter spoke as though he hadn't asked the question. "The final orders have been given for the operation. I will brief you on your mission to ensure that there are no questions."

"We are professionals," Kabuto replied. "I familiarized myself with the mission plan you gave me before."

"I will brief you on your mission to ensure that there are no questions," the Mist kunoichi repeated herself flatly.

"Very well," Kabuto said after a moment. Repressing a sigh, he raised his voice. "Squad leaders, with me and our guest. The rest of you, at ease."

"Yes, sir," the response came from his men. Koyanagi took a step forward to join Kabuto, admirably not even giving the hunter ninja a hostile glare. A few moments later, the other squad leader, a stocky man who moved with a grace that belied his bulk, joined them.

The hunter ninja took in the bulges on the man's lower arms, for the moment covered by gray sleeves. "The Dosu Clan?" she asked, naming one of the clans from Rice Field that remained a staunch supporter of Orochimaru's Hidden Sound. When the man nodded, the hunter ninja continued. "The Valley's Koyanagi and the Leaf's Yakushi. An amusing collection."

"I'm only adopted, I fear," Kabuto offered lightly. "You were going to brief us?"

"Indeed." The hunter ninja paused briefly. "You are all familiar with the materials I gave Yakushi-san?" The three Sound ninja nodded, and she continued. "Then you know the aims and objectives of the operation. It cannot be stressed enough that priority must be given to causing maximum damage to the Leaf before they finish the evacuation of civilians and begin their counter-attack. Extended engagements with the initial Leaf defense forces are counter-productive and are to be avoided."

It was Dosu who spoke first. "How do we know that the Leaf will follow the same defense strategy as before?"

"We have received confirmation from our agents that no changes to the defense plan have been completed since the joint Sand and Sound attack of six months ago, perhaps due to the successful repulsion of invaders in that instance and the administrative confusion resulting from the appointment of a new Hokage."

Kabuto adjusted his glasses. The Mist's spymaster again, it seemed. This was less difficult information to get one's hands on, though. The broad outlines of the strategy had to be known to numerous civilians, due to the Leaf's focus on protecting the populace. "Good to hear," he offered.

"From the options presented in the materials you studied," the Mist kunoichi continued, "we will be moving to the alternate rendezvous point due to a change in Leaf patrol schedules. Units failing to complete their missions and return to the rendezvous point in time are to consider themselves on their own. I will be remaining with you to serve as liaison." She paused. "Understood?"

"Perfectly," Kabuto said. "You seem to be leaving out the most important point though."

Smiling a smile that was obvious even behind her mask, the hunter ninja told Kabuto the date that the war would begin.

* * *

"Special Jounin Mitarashi Anko here to see you, Hokage-sama." Tsunade glared at her chuunin assistant, and the man visibly had to force himself not to retreat and slam the door. "Hokage-sama?" he ventured.

One of Tsunade's eyebrows twitched. "She's actually here? Not a replication? Or some sucker she'd blackmailed into transforming into her?"

"Er… yes, Hokage-sama." The chuunin was sweating profusely, clearly wondering just what he had said to earn the Hokage's ire.

Beside the older woman, Shizune grinned in triumph. "That's a week where you do all your own paperwork with no escape attempts or drinking that you owe me, Hokage-sama," she stated merrily.

"Damn it," Tsunade hissed under her breath. "It seemed like such a sure bet, too."

"And don't forget the rest," Shizune added. "You can't do anything permanent to Anko- chan."

"Define permanent." Tsunade's fingers danced on her desktop, picking up speed as she began to envision creative ways around that restriction.

"You break it, you fix it." Shizune gave her mentor a disapproving look.

"I can fix an awful lot." Tsunade folded her hands in front of her face in thought.

"Before she leaves here," Shizune added.

"You're no fun," Tsunade griped.

"Umm… Hokage-sama?" the chuunin, nearly forgotten, asked carefully.

"Send her in," Tsunade commanded grimly. "Let's see what she has to say for herself."

A few moments later, Anko stood before the other two women, scratching at the back of her neck and laughing nervously. "You wanted to see me, Tsunade-sama?"

"Mitarashi Anko." Tsunade sounded out every syllable of the special jounin's name frostily. "Care to explain yourself?"

"Well, it all started when my father and mother loved each other very much, and -"

"Anko," Tsunade snapped. Behind her, Shizune giggled slightly, earning a glare from the Sannin.

"Oh, you wanted me to explain something specific about me?" Anko asked, her voice and face a perfect picture of innocence. "My good looks? My winning personality?"

"Anko," Tsunade repeated. "I'm not blind. I saw the technique that Sakura-chan used in her fight with Hyuuga Neji."

"Displacement Technique?" Anko offered desperately. "Yeah, Kurenai-chan told me she taught her that."

This time it was Shizune who said, "Anko."

"Ah, right," Anko said after a long moment. "Hidden Snake Hands."

"Yes." Tsunade let her hand tap briefly on her desk. "Now, refresh my memory on how that technique works, please."

The purple-haired woman nodded. "You summon a specialized breed of snake spirit and offer yourself as a host. The spirits reside immaterially in the arm and feed slightly on your chakra. Channel more chakra into them, and they regain physical form."

"That's what I thought," Tsunade said. Her hands folded in front of her face. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but that particular type of snake spirit can't be summoned using a prepared scroll, right? Something to do with requiring chakra that's aligned with the snake spirit court, right?"

Anko winced. "Right."

"It seems to me, then, that Sakura couldn't have possibly used that technique, Anko- chan," the Hokage said calmly. "After all, Sakura hasn't signed any summoning contracts of any sort." One of her hands dropped to rest on Sakura's file, laying closed on her desk.

"You… might need to update the file," Anko admitted.

"Is that so?" Tsunade asked.

"I wanted to increase Sakura-chan's chakra reserves, and forcing her to learn summoning was the easiest and most useful way to do that. So I took her out into the wilderness, had her sign a little contract, and went to work." Anko grinned weakly. "That's all."

"Just how little of a contract are we talking about?" Tsunade asked.

Anko stuttered for a moment before finally answering. "Just the full contract," she whispered pitifully.

"Just the full contract," Tsunade repeated. "Is there some other, higher level of contract that nobody ever told me about? What were you thinking? Did you never consider that maybe I had a contract I wanted her to sign?"

Anko took a deep breath. "Not really," she said. "I acted without thinking. I guess I just got too used to thinking of her as my student instead of Hatake's and yours." She swallowed once. "I'm sorry."

There was a long silence. "Well, damn it," Tsunade muttered. "How the hell am I supposed to make you pay for this when you go and do that? You're not supposed to apologize."

"Err… I'm sorry?" Anko offered, and Shizune laughed.

Tsunade sighed. "Oh, forget it," she said. "It's not like I don't already owe Katsuyu enough favors. I can probably talk her into letting Sakura-chan sign one of the lesser contracts still if I beg enough." She rubbed at her forehead. "Now, get out of here and don't screw up at the examination board meeting, or you'll wish I'd just killed you now."

"Right," Anko said. She glanced at Tsunade's assistant. "Come on, Shizune-sempai. I need a drink after that, and everyone's meeting at the usual place to catch up before we all scatter on missions again."

"All right," Shizune said agreeably, stepping around Tsunade's desk. "Remember to sign all the bonus pay forms for overtime duty during the exams, Tsunade-sama."

"Wait!" Tsunade gave a mournful look at the stacks of paperwork littering her desk. "You're just going to leave me with all this?"

"Yes," Shizune replied. "That was the bet, wasn't it?" She grinned. "Let's go, Anko- chan."

Tsunade groaned as the door to her office shut behind the two younger women. How the hell did it work out that Anko screwed up and she got punished instead?

* * *

The bars of the Leaf Village had been doing a brisk business recently, but tonight this bar in particular was, unusually, among the busiest. Usually, it was a quiet place, frequented mainly by the academy teachers and jounin instructors for new genin teams. The day after the close of the Chuunin Selection Exam, it was filled with everyone who had been involved in making that exam a success.

In a corner, one of the Hokage's chuunin assistants was not-so-surreptitiously slipping half of his drinks to the technically underage Nara Shikamaru. Ordinarily, this might have resulted in some difficulty, but all the employees were among the ones wagering on just what type of drunk the person who would soon no longer be the Hidden Leaf's newest chuunin would turn out to be. The bulk of the money was riding on him being quiet but surly, yet a few people had risked substantial amounts on him becoming loud, cheerful, and giggly. Much to his discomfort, one Umino Iruka had been dragged in off the street and pressed into service as the judge.

A handful of ninja from foreign villages were present as well, most clustering in another corner. The Waterfall's Matsuyo Nissho was trading war stories with an examination board member from the Sand. A kunoichi from the cautiously friendly but not formally allied Bear Country's Hidden Star had joined them, but seemed content to just listen and drink without adding her own stories. If one looked closely enough, one could see nearby the pair of overly cheerful Leaf ninja who weren't drinking nearly as much as it looked like they were, keeping an eye on that corner.

Another corner had been secured early in the evening by one Sarutobi Asuma. That jounin was currently having the time of his life needling Uzuki Yuugao and Funeno Daikoku for the failure of their teams to even make it into the second exam. Seated beside him, Yuuhi Kurenai sighed in disapproval. "That's enough," she said. "It's not like it's unusual for rookies to fail in the exam."

Asuma shrugged. "We did it," he said.

The third jounin teacher for the latest batch of rookies smiled softly around her drink. "So did I," Suzume Namida said.

"Don't gloat, Namida-chan," Daikoku grumbled as he gazed mournfully at his empty glass. "Who's paying for the next round?"

"I am." Maito Gai plopped two heavy pitchers of beer onto the center of the table, then seated himself.

"You're late, Gai," Asuma commented.

"Some idiot at the hospital thought it would be a good idea to give Lee a celebratory drink," the green-clad jounin explained as he sat down.

Yuugao paled, having been among the ANBU called to the scene in response to Lee's first encounter with alcohol. "How many casualties?" she asked.

"None," Gai answered, pouring himself a drink. He took a gulp. "We managed to stop the damned fool in time."

"What's this about, then?" Namida asked, refilling her own glass.

"You weren't here, were you?" Kurenai asked.

"Drunken Fist," Yuugao stated harshly. "Uncontrollable Drunken Fist." Namida whistled in appreciation.

"That Rock Lee kid?" Everyone looked up as Anko approached the table, Shizune trailing behind. The purple-haired special jounin plopped down in an empty seat and helped herself to one of the half-empty beer pitchers, draining it in a matter of seconds.

"Be polite, Anko-chan," Shizune chided her friend as she seated herself much more elegantly.

Anko belched. "I am polite," she said, fishing a small flask out of her jacket and handing it to Gai. "I brought some booze too."

Gai stared at the container suspiciously, unscrewing it and taking a cautious sniff. "How long will I be out for if I drink this? I have a mission in the morning."

Anko stole the flask back. "Don't drink it then." She took a surprisingly small sip, then offered it to Shizune, who waved it away.

"Mission for me too," Daikoku grumbled.

"At least you get to go with your team," Kurenai complained. "My students are all out in Wave Country, and I'm heading for Bear Country the day after tomorrow."

"Bear Country?" Yuugao asked. She glanced to the corner of the bar where the foreign ninja had gathered. "I know they're friendlier now, but I thought those Hidden Star paranoids still forbid any foreign ninja from entering the country under any circumstances."

Kurenai shrugged. "They're the ones paying for the mission. They want to test some anti-genjutsu defenses they've developed, or something like that."

"Wait," Anko said. "You're going on a mission tomorrow, Maito? The examination board doesn't even meet until the day after tomorrow. What about your team?"

"Solo mission," Gai explained. "Picking up a missing ninja the Rain caught for us."

"You want to travel with my group?" Daikoku asked. "We're heading for Rain too."

"Sounds good," Gai agreed. "Any taijutsu-types in your team?" Daikoku shook his head.

"I'm lucky, I guess," Yuugao said. "Hokage-sama's got my team on forest patrol."

Namida nodded. "Likewise. Though we don't start until after the results of the exam are announced."

Asuma coughed. "Speaking of which," he said, giving Anko a significant look.

"What do you want me to say?" she replied. "The examination board hasn't even met yet."

"I've had your job before," Gai said dryly. "You got the best look out of anyone at the fights. Your recommendations are going to carry a lot of weight."

"Well, I can tell you who I'm not recommending." Anko took another cautious sip from her flask. "The Hyuuga and your little clone. Nobody who wimps out and denies me a nice, climatic bloodbath deserves to be a chuunin."

"Anko-chan," Shizune said disapprovingly.

"Weren't you going to share that drink, Mitarashi-san?" Namida asked. "Maybe if you get me drunk enough I won't ask about a certain technique that Haruno Sakura pulled out against the Hyuuga." She paused expectantly.

Anko grinned. "Blackmail, huh? I like blackmail." She screwed the top back on the flask and tossed it at the mousy jounin.

Namida easily caught the metal flask and unscrewed it. She mimicked Gai, taking a sniff. Her eyes widened. "What the hell is this stuff?"

"You ever gotten drunk with the Wind Country nomads?" Anko asked.

"I have," Gai interjected. "That stuff smells way worse then the stuff they make."

Anko nodded. "Some genius up in Earth Country decided that the nomads didn't make strong enough booze and experimented with it until he came up with that."

Namida shuddered, but she still took a very small sip. Then she doubled over, coughing. "Damn," she muttered, reclosing the container and handing it to Yuugao.

The former ANBU just shook her head and threw it back at Anko. As the other purple- haired woman caught it, Yuugao asked, "How did you wind up teaching Haruno - our Haruno, that is - anyway?"

It was Asuma who answered. "Mitarashi had already given some training as part of a mission, and after what happened to Kakashi…"

Yuugao grimaced. "I heard those Cloud bastards have him."

Shizune nodded. "Tsunade-sama's trying to figure out a rescue mission, but we don't have the manpower and we can't risk war with Lightning Country."

There was a dark silence for a long moment, until Kurenai took it upon herself to end it. "So, tell me, Namida-san, did Hokage-sama manage to rope you into training Sakura too?" Asuma laughed.

Namida blinked. "What?"

"I guess not," Kurenai said.

"You were training her with Mitarashi?" Yuugao asked.

"Not together," Kurenai said. "But Hokage-sama used Kakashi to guilt me into mentoring her a little during a mission."

Asuma began to count on his fingers. "Kakashi started out with her, Mitarashi's trained her, I got her before the exam, Kurenai gave her some help, and it was obvious that she got some training from Gai at some point." Gai nodded in confirmation and Asuma laughed. "That girl has probably had more jounin instructors than any genin in history."

"That's… a little odd," Yuugao commented. "I guess under the circumstances, though…"

Anko stood suddenly. "I'm going to get more beer," she said. From that point on, the conversation became much louder and much less serious.

* * *

**Day Seventy-two**

Jiraiya was hopefully the only person in the world who knew that he was back in the Cloud Village. He had very publicly left a handful of days ago - or, more accurately, just publicly enough to be noticed leaving without drawing attention to the fact that he wanted to be noticed. He'd made a point of being noticed getting royally drunk at a roadside tavern, then locked himself in a room to "sleep it off." His return to the Cloud Village earlier today had been much more subtle than his departure, and the guards had given no sign that they thought him anything other than the wandering priest on a pilgrimage to the Temple of the Thunder Dragon he had claimed to be.

He hadn't even told Kaida of his plans. While he trusted the High Priestess, he thought it was best that she not know that he maintained his own, independent network of agents in her country. She probably suspected, but if she had proof it would be troublesome for her if it ever got out. Kaida had told him that there was no word of Akatsuki being on the move, but after the confrontation at Yuki's stronghold there was no doubt in Jiraiya's mind that Itachi and Kisame, at least, would be on their way soon. He wanted his contacts on the lookout.

The legendary Sannin, having discarded his priestly robes and adopted the guise of a well-to-do foreign businessman, was presently in a residential district of the city inhabited mainly by ninja. He wandered through the streets, occasionally checked a worn sheet of paper with an address and directions on it, even though he knew his destination well. After perhaps a half-hour of wandering, he reached it, and he frowned at the small house's surprisingly shabby condition.

After a moment's hesitation, he knocked on the door. Nothing happened, and he waited several seconds before knocking again. This time, a tired-looking woman in faded, worn clothing, her dark hair streaked with gray before its time, answered. "Yes?" she asked.

"Is Abe Gihei available?" he asked.

The woman's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" she asked harshly.

Jiraiya blinked. Something was clearly wrong. "I am Jiro, a merchant of his acquaintance. He invited me to stop by if I was ever in the Cloud Village."

"You should come in," the woman said after a pregnant silence. She opened the door wider, and Jiraiya stepped inside. "This way," she murmured, leading him to a somewhat disheveled kitchen. Jiraiya carefully moved a stack of unread mail onto the kitchen table from its precarious place on a chair and seated himself. The woman nodded. "I am Abe Misaki, Gihei's widow."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. "Gihei-san is dead?" he asked unnecessarily. "May I ask," he began, then trailed off.

"Would you like some tea?" Misaki asked instead of answering. "I have a pot on."

"Yes, please." A few silent minutes later, the woman joined Jiraiya at the kitchen table after pouring them both tea.

"I understand that it might be painful, Abe-san," Jiraiya said after taking a sip of the weak tea, "but could you tell me how your husband died?"

Misaki shrugged resignedly. "Not much to tell. His team ran afoul of a Rock special forces unit two years ago." For a moment, anger showed in her voice. "It was within a day's travel of the village, and the Cloud were never able to find the Rock bastards."

Jiraiya was barely able to stop himself from cursing out loud. He had received his last, unremarkable report from Gihei shortly before leaving the Leaf Village with Naruto. The implications of that were disturbing to say the least. Somehow, he doubted it had been an actual Rock squad that had killed his agent. "I am sorry for your loss," he offered after a moment.

Misaki nodded. "He mentioned you," she said slowly. "That's why I let you in. He left a letter."

Jiraiya resisted the urge to thank Gihei's departed shade. Maybe he would have some answers. "May I see it?"

The widow stood, nodding. "Just a moment," she said, standing and leaving the kitchen. When she returned, she handed Jiraiya a sealed envelope.

The disguised ninja quickly searched it for the telltale signs of having been opened and resealed, finding none. "Please excuse me," he said as he broke the seal and removed the letter. He swiftly scanned it. The bulk of the letter was nonsense, referring to non- existent business transactions. Two sentences stood out, though.

One was a bit of poetic balderdash about seeing a dawn through the clouds. One way of reading the characters for "Akatsuki" meant dawn. With that in mind, the hidden meaning of the sentence was clear. Gihei had believed that Akatsuki had infiltrated the Cloud and feared he had been discovered. It seemed obvious that Akatsuki's agent in the Cloud had arranged Gihei's death and faked the subsequent reports Jiraiya had received.

The second intriguing sentence was a simple mention of how Gihei wanted to visit the House of the Falling Plum again. Jiraiya knew that name well, as it belonged to a brothel in a town near the Cloud Village run by another of his agents. He also knew that Gihei was hardly the sort to frequent that kind of establishment. He'd been meaning to stop by there in any case; this merely meant that it was urgent.

"Thank you," he told Misaki when he was through reading.

"It wasn't a problem," the woman told him.

Jiraiya reached for his wallet. "Part of the reason I was coming was that I owed Gihei- san some gambling debts," he lied. "Let me -"

"I don't need your charity!" Misaki snapped. She took a deep breath, calming herself.

Jiraiya said, "I'm sorry. Let me take you out to dinner tonight at least. In Gihei- san's memory." It was a bit risky to stick around, but he felt he had to do it. Misaki deserved something from him, after all. This was all he could do for now, but he was definitely going to have to find a way to help her more significantly.

Slowly, Misaki nodded. "All right."

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto was not happy. He wanted to be doing something. Well, he was doing something, but it wasn't the something he wanted to be doing. He wanted to be doing something that would help Kakashi. Every time he had asked her, Kaida had only said that she was working on it and that he would have to be patient. Then she would just press on with another boring session of meditation and inspection of his seal. Even that, though, would be better than this.

He had never thought that he would hate training. Intellectually, he knew that being trained in lightning element techniques by one of the strongest Cloud ninja, even if only half-heartedly as a cover, was a good thing. Emotionally, he couldn't help but feel that it was useless, and the identity of his current tutor was doing nothing to make the whole process easier.

Today, Kaida had claimed to not have time for another session with Naruto. Instead, the High Priestess had sent her apprentice to train him, to keep up the cover story that he was here to learn about lightning element techniques. The fact that he did not particularly want to be alone with Sinobi Junhime, the woman responsible for Kakashi's capture by the Cloud, did not seem to have occurred to Jiraiya's friend.

Junhime's face was dark as she seated herself on the ground across from Naruto. "I'm not happy about this," she stated, "but I suppose I have no choice."

Naruto bared his teeth at her. "You're not happy? Good."

The kunoichi snorted. "At least try to act like a human being, you little monster." She smiled a smile that was no less threatening than Naruto's own expression. "If I'm too unhappy, I might just send Sharingan Kakashi for another round with the interrogation squad."

It would have surprised many who knew him that Naruto was able to restrain himself. Not even a flicker of red chakra was visible in the air around him as he glared at the young woman. "I told you before. If you hurt Kakashi-sensei, I'll find some way to make you pay. You'd better believe it!"

Surprisingly Junhime laughed. "Oh, I believe it. You'll try at least." She smiled as she stood, spreading her arms wide and seemingly leaving herself open to attack. "I believe the first medical report showed that Hatake Kakashi had no fewer than fifteen broken bones, severe electrical burns over a quarter of his body, and numerous miscellaneous wounds inflicted by bladed weapons when he arrived in the village. I was probably responsible for half of that, little boy." She grinned widely, making no move to defend herself. "What are you going to do about it?"

For the barest of instants, Naruto's eyes turned crimson before fading back to an angry blue. "I'm not stupid."

"Apparently not," Junhime replied. "I was so looking forward to filing the report for being forced to kill you in self-defense."

"You might not find that so easy," Naruto growled out.

"You're threatening me with the Kyuubi, little boy?" Junhime asked. "With that sort of mentality, I highly doubt Kaida-sama will be able to help you much. Without an iron will opposing it, you'll never get the demon back in its cage."

"Why should you care?" Naruto demanded.

"I don't care about you," Junhime allowed, "but I have to live in this world too. I've got no interest in seeing a headstrong little brat let the most terrible monster in history walk free again because he can't keep his emotions in check." She shook her head, seating herself once more. "Don't they teach self-control anymore in the Leaf Village?"

"If I had no self-control, one of us would be dead by now," Naruto said seriously.

The Cloud ninja laughed, almost good-naturedly. "That's true." She adjusted her forehead protector with one hand. "Shall we begin, then?"

"How do I know you won't kill me?" Naruto asked suspiciously. "It's obvious you want to. You could just say it was a training accident."

"Did it occur to you that you might not want to give me any ideas?" Junhime asked lightly. She laughed. "Kaida-sama would know if I lied, and she would tell the Toad Hermit. They could make me wish I was your Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto stood. "Let's start this, then," he said.

Junhime followed suit. "Come closer, boy, and I'll show you the technique I'm supposed to teach you." She grimaced at the thought. Naruto took a cautious step toward her, and the kunoichi's hands blurred. Then one stretched out, lightly tapping Naruto's cheek before he could react. "Raiton: Shocking Grasp Technique."

There was a spark of electricity, and the boy stumbled back, shouting more from surprise than pain. "That hurt!" he hollered angrily.

"Good." Junhime smirked. "That's the most basic lightning element technique. It's not good for much, as you can see. It's best for stunning an unsuspecting target."

Naruto forced himself to take a deep breath. "What are the seals?"

* * *

**Day Seventy-three**

It had rained yesterday, but Sakura hadn't noticed. After the end of the chuunin exams, she had barely been able to make it home. The exertions of the past weeks finally caught up with her as the last bits of adrenaline fled her system. It had been all she could do to undress before throwing herself into her borrowed bed, and since then she had barely stirred except to walk the short distance to the kitchen, eat, and return.

This morning, finally, Sakura felt like a human being again, instead of some hollow shell. The past few days were practically blank to her. She hadn't even had the energy to think at all, much less consider her performance in the exams or the information about Midori she had managed to get out of Neji after them. As she finished her breakfast, glad that the milk, one day past its expiration date, hadn't spoiled noticeably and looking out the window at the still-damp village, Sakura considered just what she was going to do next.

For the first time in months, she didn't have some overarching goal. She had no missions; there were no more exams to prepare for. Her fate was out of her hands now, and all she could do was wait for the examination board - and more importantly, the Hokage - to announce their decisions. At times, she had thought that she couldn't wait for the exams to be over, but now she felt directionless.

She sighed. What the hell was she doing, moping over this sort of thing? There was at least one thing she could be doing after all, a discussion she'd been trying to have for over a month now. She'd tried to reach her mother several times during the week before the third exam, in large part to ward off Anko's threatened snakes, but she'd had no luck. It couldn't hurt to try again.

Nodding firmly to herself, Sakura stood, taking her dishes over to the sink. That complete, she left Naruto's apartment, trying to ignore the tremor in her heart as she made her way to the stairs. Two civilians, a man and a woman, were conversing quietly on the floor below near the stairs. They hushed as they noticed Sakura, and neither responded to her "Good morning." The pink-haired kunoichi could feel their stares on her back as she passed them.

She tried to force the encounter from her mind, but the few other residents of Naruto's apartment complex she passed seemed just as frosty. While none of them talked loudly enough that she could make out the words, she could hear the harsh tone of their whispers. Sakura frowned. She couldn't say that she knew any of her new neighbors very well. The hours she had been keeping for training meant that she'd frequently been leaving before most of them were up and returning late at night. She had gathered that most of them didn't care for Naruto much, above and beyond anything even he could have earned. Maybe they just had something against ninja.

As she passed the Ichiraku ramen stand, the owner, already preparing for the forthcoming lunch rush, waved at her. "Congratulations, Sakura-chan!"

She paused, then walked into the stand. "Thank you," she said.

"We watched you fight," the owner's daughter said. "You were great!"

Sakura could feel her cheeks flush. "Thank you," she repeated herself weakly. She hadn't been that great. Sure, she'd beaten Ami and Ino, but Naruto or Sasuke would have beaten Neji also.

"Why the change?" the owner asked after a moment, gesturing at Sakura's forehead.

Her hand went to her forehead and struck metal, reminding herself of her forehead protector's new location. "I beat Ino," she said simply.

"I see." The owner paused. "Come back for lunch," he said gently. "Our treat."

Sakura thanked him again, promising to return. Then she left, threading her way through the streets on the now-familiar path from Naruto's apartment to her house. when she stood in front of the door and knocked firmly, however, there was no answer.

"Damn it, Mother," Sakura muttered to herself. "I'm not going to take this anymore." Glancing about to make sure nobody was watching, she took to the rooftop, then dropped down onto the windowsill of her room. She tested the window and found that her mother had relocked it since the first time she had broken into her own room. Sighing, Sakura flexed her fingers as she tried to recall just how she'd managed to open the lock.

A few minutes later, she had successfully opened the latch with threads of chakra, and this time she did not feel nearly as drained from the effort. Maybe Anko had been right when she'd said that ludicrous continuous summoning practice would at least double her chakra reserves. Not wasting any more time on reflection, Sakura silently opened the window and slipped inside.

Then she frowned. Maybe it had just been a while, but something seemed off about her room. Her frown deepened as she quickly looked about and performed a quick search. Nothing really out of the ordinary turned up, though it was weird to see almost no ninja supplies left. Keeping herself well-stocked was something she always remembered to do, but for obvious reasons her stores here hadn't been replaced lately.

Sakura shook her head. Inventory checks weren't what she was here for. Not making any effort to hide her presence, she opened the door and stepped into the upstairs hallway. After a brief moment to check that her mother wasn't upstairs, she headed down to the kitchen. Her mother wasn't there either. Nor did Sakura's ensuing more thorough search turn her up.

"She must really have not been here this time," Sakura told herself with a sigh. Shaking her head again, Sakura turned to head back to her room, then smirked slightly. What was she doing that for? A few seconds later, having appropriated a spare key, she left through the front door. Her mother could just try to lock her out now, damn it!

Her amusement left her once she'd shut and relocked the door behind her. What was she going to do now? It wasn't lunchtime yet, but she wasn't going to hang around waiting for her mother to show up. She yawned. Maybe she could do with another nap after all. For lack of anything better to do, she absentmindedly headed back to Naruto's apartment. She made it almost halfway before being interrupted.

"Sakura-san!"

The pink-haired girl started, glancing about wildly. "Lee-san," she said in greeting when she found the green-clad ninja. He was with his teammates, so she politely added, "Tenten-san, Neji-san. Good morning."

Tenten glanced at Sakura's legs. "You aren't wearing weights."

Sakura had to look down at herself to check, since she really hadn't thought about it. She was still wearing pants, but there was no sign of the atrocious orange warmers. "I guess not. Maybe I'll get a new set." She hadn't really thought of that.

"You should," Lee said seriously. Sakura just nodded, but she still wasn't that certain. If she was going to get a new set, it could definitely wait until she had found a replacement for those orange warmers. What had she been thinking, wearing those in front of the whole village during the exam? Was she insane?

Realizing that the silence was quickly becoming awkward, Sakura searched for something to say. "Have you had any further problems from the poison, Neji-san?" she asked, then restrained the urge to grimace. That probably hadn't been the best thing to ask.

"No," the Hyuuga prodigy said dryly, his mouth quirking up into a slight smirk. "The medics said that your antidote had finished washing it out of my bloodstream within an hour."

"Good," Sakura replied, a bit of honest relief in her voice. She didn't think Anko would lie about something like that, but she couldn't be one hundred percent certain either. That woman's sense of humor was well beyond Sakura's understanding.

Tenten shook her head slowly. "I have to admit, Haruno, you really are something. I never would have thought you had it in you to give Neji that kind of fight, even though we trained together."

Sakura knew she was blushing slightly. "It wasn't that impressive. You or Lee could have done much better, I'm sure."

"Maybe," Tenten said. Neji just smirked again.

"What are you three up to?" Sakura asked again after a moment.

"Training!" Lee responded happily.

Sakura blinked. "Already?"

Tenten sighed, gesturing at her teacher's protege. "It's all Lee's fault. I don't know how I let myself get roped into this."

"We shouldn't stop just because the exams are over," Lee replied, "and it's been a while since we've trained as a team." He paused. "What about you, Sakura-san?"

"I'm… not doing anything, really," she said. "I don't know what I'll be doing after the exams, either." That was up to Tsunade. Sure, she'd met what the Hokage had said her expectations were, but she'd never said that guaranteed a place as her apprentice. Her stomach got nervous even at the thought of rejection. She wasn't sure she could take that.

"I see," Lee replied calmly. Either he didn't notice her discomfort or had thankfully decided not to draw attention to it.

"I suppose we'll see you when they announce the promotions," Neji said after a moment.

"Right," Sakura replied. "I'll see you all then."

A few minutes later, she had made her way home, thankfully without any uncomfortable encounters with her neighbors. Unfortunately, the door to Naruto's apartment was ever-so- slightly ajar. Sakura's face smoothed, and one hand went to the hilt of a kunai. Better safe than sorry, she thought as she cautiously placed her other hand on the door handle. She took a deep breath to center herself, then she burst into the room.

Mitarashi Anko was sitting at Naruto's kitchen table, happily chewing on the heel end of a loaf of bread - all that Sakura had left. "You need to buy more milk, Sakura-chan," she commented as her sometimes student stumbled to a halt. "What you have expired yesterday."

Sakura twitched. "What the hell are you doing in my… in Naruto's apartment?"

Anko looked about. "This place is Uzumaki's? I didn't know you two were like that."

"We aren't!" Sakura took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm. "You know perfectly well why I'm here and that Naruto was gone before I moved in."

"Well, yes," Anko replied, "but I think it's a crime to let little details like that get in the way of a good tease."

"You know what else is a crime?" Sakura replied. "Breaking and entering."

Anko grinned evilly. "You know, the examination board doesn't meet until this evening. You really should be nicer to me."

Sakura just sighed, seating herself in another chair opposite Anko. "You're here for a reason, I take it."

"I wanted to talk," Anko said seriously. "About a few things." She paused, clearly sorting her thoughts. "How are you doing?" she asked after a moment.

Sakura blinked. "What do you mean?"

Anko grinned half-heartedly. "You should be awake enough by now to have thought about the results of the exams."

"I'm nervous, I guess," Sakura replied after a moment. "I don't see how I couldn't be."

"That's true," Anko said. She paused again. "I… I just wanted to make sure you weren't beating yourself up over losing to the Hyuuga."

"Why should I?" Sakura asked. "It's not like Haruno Sakura losing to the Hyuuga Neji is such a big surprise. The amazing part is that I didn't humiliate myself too badly." She grimaced. "I guess I do wish I'd won."

"Perfectly natural," Anko said with a laugh. She hesitated once more, and when she spoke next her voice was dead serious. "I do want you to know that I wasn't lying when I talked to you after the fight. You did very well, Sakura-chan."

The pink-haired genin stared at the older woman in amazement for several seconds. "This isn't like you, Mitarashi-sensei," she said finally.

"I guess not." Anko laughed weakly, then grimaced. "When I took the Chuunin Exam," she said after a moment, "I lost my second fight in the third exam." Her eyes closed for a moment and one hand snaked up to her shoulder, roughly caressing the dark seal Sakura knew was hidden by the special jounin's coat. "My teacher was… not happy with me. I've been telling myself for years now that I wouldn't be like that if I ever had a student. I just… wanted to make sure I hadn't screwed that up."

Perversely, Sakura began to look for any telltale signs that whoever sat in front of her was using the Transformation Technique. After too long a pause, she shook her head. "You didn't."

"Good." Once again, Anko was silent for a moment. "I also wanted to make sure nobody was giving you any trouble."

"Trouble?" Sakura asked. "What do you mean?"

Anko sighed. "Sakura-chan, you just very publicly used a snake technique. There's more than a few people in this village that have fairly negative views on that." She grimaced. "You can trust me on that. I was worried that some of your neighbors might cause trouble, particularly since -" She cut off suddenly, wincing.

"Since?" Sakura asked curiously.

Anko winced again. "I shouldn't talk about that."

"I see," Sakura said slowly. Could it have something to do with whatever made the neighbors hate Naruto so much?

Anko stood. "That's really what I came here for. I'll see you at the promotion ceremony."

"Right," Sakura said after a moment.

Anko hesitated when she reached the door. "Sakura-chan," she said softly.

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"I guess this is it for us," the special jounin said. "After this, you'll be with Tsunade-sama." The certainty in Anko's voice was enough to quiet Sakura's instinctive protest that the matter wasn't certain. "I just wanted to say that you were a good student. If you ever need my help…" The woman trailed off slowly.

Sakura could only stare at the special jounin's back. Was Anko - Anko, of all people - actually choking up a little? The pink-haired girl swallowed nervously. "Thank you," she replied after a moment, "for teaching me."

Anko laughed slightly. "I guess I can't have screwed up too badly if you're willing to say that." Anko reached to open the door.

Sakura frowned at the jounin's back for a moment, then before she could change her mind, she spoke. "I'm about to grab some lunch at Ichiraku. Do you want to join me?"

* * *

"I'm sorry, Rui-sama." The man's voice was indeed apologetic, though Kitakami Rui couldn't stand the hint of pity in it. "There's nothing I can do."

"Why not?" Rui forced herself to keep her voice calm. "You're supposed to be in charge of mission assignments, aren't you?" The kunoichi stood, wishing it was sensible for her to take out her anger on someone.

"I don't have absolute authority, Rui-sama. You know that." The man's hands rested on his desk. "The elders feel that you are too valuable to both the Kitakami Clan and the entire Snow Country to risk on a dangerous mission."

"Valuable?" Rui asked. "What sort of valuable ninja isn't trusted to handle even a C- rank mission?"

"Rui-sama," the older ninja said, exasperation plain in his voice even though he kept the respectful suffix even the highest-ranking ninja in the Kitakami Clan had addressed Rui with since her return. "I don't mean to be cruel, but it isn't a matter of trust. It's that even most of our experienced genin could defeat you right now."

Rui grimaced. "I've been training," she began. It was almost inconceivably hard, like starting to learn to be a ninja all over again. Her whole combat style had always been focused on ice element techniques, and it had only grown more so once she had forged her deal with the snow maidens. With those denied to her, she was little stronger than a fresh genin, despite her much higher ranking.

"And when that training shows results," the man replied after a moment, "I will be happy to assign you missions commensurate with those results. Until such time, though, Rui-sama, I cannot."

Rui sighed, letting herself settle back into the chair facing the other ninja's desk. "I just want to be useful," she muttered half-heartedly. "I can't stand only being able to sit here and wait for the latest bad news from the medics about my brother."

"I understand, Rui-sama." The man grimaced. "I really wish things were different."

"So do I." Rui stood again. "With your permission," she said, and when the man nodded she turned and left without another word. A glance at a clock showed that she still had time to kill, and she set to wandering through the halls of the Kitakami Clan's stronghold. She took pains to avoid the handful of ninja between missions who also traveled the halls. Their deep bows and awed "Rui-sama"s would be more than she could take at the moment. It had only been a few days, and she was already sick of it.

She eventually found herself outside a large training hall. After activating a minor genjutsu to make herself less noticeable, she stole inside settled down near the wall to watch the class in session. The chuunin instructor almost certainly noticed her presence, but she respected Rui's obvious desire for privacy.

It was a first-year class, though Rui knew that most groups of ninja would find it incredibly advanced for that. The Kitakami had no resources to waste training the children who would never develop the talent for ice element techniques. In the days of the Hidden Village of Snow, of course, the curriculum had been more standard, as with the snow maidens' support ice element techniques came naturally the the ninja of the Snow. Just as they once had come easily to her.

This class was near the end of its first year. The students had already mastered the necessary trivial techniques used for the testing by rote learning, even if they had no understanding of how they worked. Now they struggled to combine those techniques into a true ice element technique; a skill more than half of them would never learn. More than half of those remaining would never have the massive chakra capacity needed to do more than what had been the basic genin techniques before Yuki's betrayal had destroyed the Hidden Snow.

The numbers told a tale of slow extinction, and it was from that fate Rui had hopefully saved her clan and the other surviving Snow clans. With time, a new pact with the snow maidens might be forged, and the Hidden Snow reborn. If that was the case, future generations would praise her name so long as the new village endured.

Half-heartedly, Rui followed along with the exercise the students were performing. First, her hands formed a pair of seals, then a tiny ball of water formed in front of an outstretched finger. Unlike the students, she needed no cup of water to provide the raw material. She was still skilled enough to draw forth water from the air. She let the droplet hang for a moment before releasing the technique.

Along with the students, she formed another pair of seals. This time, it was a simple wind technique to rapidly chill a small volume of air. Then she performed the two training techniques in rapid succession, creating a tiny ball of ice. She held it in her hand for almost a minute, watching it melt and letting the students catch up with her.

This time, it was four seals that they formed, mixing the seals used for the prior two techniques. Rui easily called forth the two different mixtures of chakra simultaneously, the first challenge. She pooled them both in her outstretched finger, forcing them to mix and merge into a new form in the air before it. Yet instead of coalescing into a ice droplet like it had so easily even before her deal with the snow maidens, it just hung there, dead, until she released the technique and let it fade away.

"I've got it!" The young boy's voice was almost incredulous as he proudly displayed a chunk of ice to his classmates. Rui's eyes burned, and she couldn't bear to watch anymore. Feeling the chuunin instructor's pitying gaze on her back, Rui fled, returning to wandering the halls aimlessly.

Eventually, the time came and she met her brother in front of the infirmary. "How did it go?" she asked softly.

Ichizo grimaced, leaning heavily on his cane as her slowly walked to stand beside her. Rui began to head back toward their chambers, matching her pace to Ichizo's torturous slow crawl. "The same as his first diagnosis. I'm lucky to be able to walk at all."

Rui grimaced. "He's supposed to be one of the best healers in the world, isn't he?" she raged quietly. "Why can't he do anything to help you?"

"You didn't see it," Ichizo said after a moment, "but that Kisame's sword was… it wasn't ordinary. I swear it was practically alive." He grimaced. "It felt like it was eating me." He sighed after a long moment. "How about you? Any luck with the old man?"

"None." Rui grimaced. "It seems I'm both too valuable to be risked and too pathetic to be useful." She sighed. "Even if it wasn't a mission, it would be nice to be doing something."

"Likewise," Ichizo replied.

"I wonder," Rui muttered to herself as a thought occurred to her. "They might just let me do that much."

"Rui?"

"Are you feeling up to a trip to the Fire Country?" Rui asked her brother.

"Why?" Ichizo frowned.

"She doesn't know it yet, but the Hokage owes us a pretty big favor, doesn't she? If anyone in the world can help you, it would be her."

"Maybe she could." For an instant Ichizo's eyes lit up with hope. "If she believes those notes Jiraiya-sama gave you. If you can get permission for us to leave the village."

"For the first, there's nothing we can do," Rui said, "but for the second, why don't you and I have another talk with the old man after lunch?"

* * *

**Day Seventy-four**

Naruto frowned as he stared at the small mirror on the wall of his room. Today was the chance he had been waiting for. He had no lessons this afternoon, and both Kaida and Junhime were not in the temple. Thankfully, Kaida had not given him a full-time guard like she had considered, so he did not need to worry about that. It was as safe as it could possibly get for him to finally start working on finding a way to help Kakashi.

He needed a plan. Just running about wildly was only going to get him in trouble. Before he could plan, he needed know where Kakashi was and what his situation was. Naruto grumbled wordlessly to himself. He wasn't very good at this sort of thing. Thinking on his feet during a battle was one thing, but all this planning in advance didn't come naturally to him. He wished that someone else was here to tell him what to do.

Then again, he thought that person would probably just tell him it was stupid to even try and help Kakashi, and he was in no mood for that sort of advice. Never mind that he was up alone against an entire village. He was Uzumaki Naruto, and he didn't go back on his word. He was going to get Kakashi out of this. Somehow, he was going to do it. He just needed to figure out how.

That meant reconnaissance, and that meant a disguise. He couldn't just wander out of the temple and around the Cloud Village looking like himself. He was going to need to use the Transformation Technique, but what should he transform into? Whatever transformation it was, it would have to stand up to casual scrutiny from other ninja, so he needed a good one.

Jiraiya had lectured him about this back at the beginning of their journey, he remembered. He'd mentioned two tricks. "The first is to not give the ninja any reason to pay attention to you, but that doesn't always work," he'd said. "We can't count on that. The second trick is to keep the transformation as close to what you really look like as possible. The less you actually transform, the harder it is to see through."

Naruto frowned. He couldn't look too much like himself either, though. His frown deepened into a pained grimace as another solution from Jiraiya came to mind. He dug through his wardrobe, pulling out the one change of clothing he'd gotten from the Rock kunoichi Mako that had survived the trip. Well, except for the underwear. He wasn't planning on stripping for anyone, and they got awfully uncomfortable.

He quickly stripped, then created a shadow replication and had it hop into bed, snoring loudly. Then he changed into Mako's clothing and returned to the mirror. Grimacing at how perverted he looked in her clothing, he was none the less glad that it consisted of pants, a shirt, and a jacket rather than a dress of some kind. Bringing Mako's form to mind as he shut his eyes, his hands formed a seal and he transformed.

When his eyes opened, a girl with violet eyes stared back at him in the mirror. His dyed black hair now seemed longer, drawn back in a short ponytail. He almost turned away from the mirror before he noticed a critical mistake. He'd been thinking too hard of Mako, and he was wearing a Rock forehead protector. Flushing slightly, he transformed again, and the symbol changed to the three ovals of the Cloud.

Leaving his snoring clone behind, Naruto quietly slipped out of his room. Fortunately, he didn't encounter any priests until he reached the public areas of the temple. Once there, he resisted the urge to breathe a sigh of relief and just walked out of the temple complex like he had every right to do so. The long walk down the mountain gave him time to consider his next steps, and when he passed the Raikage's palace and headed into the city proper, he knew exactly what to do.

After a few minutes walking, he was in an area frequented by ninja, and he made a turn down a side street. Nobody seemed to be taking any notice of him, so he relaxed and took in the sights as he wandered the streets looking for the right person to talk to. It took him several more minutes, but he eventually found two older genin, leaning against a wall and eating dango.

Knowing he was taking a big risk, Naruto walked up to the two boys. "Umm… excuse me, sempai," he said.

"What do you want?" one of the two Cloud ninja asked him.

"Can you point me to the hospital?" Junhime had told him the medics were investigating Kakashi's Sharingan, after all, so that was a good place to start. He forced himself to giggle and scratch the back of his head. "My teacher sent me to pick up some supplies so we can go over basic first aid, but I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere."

The two boys gave her a long look. "It's right next to the academy," one of them said slowly.

Cursing silently, Naruto giggled again and flushed. "I have a bad sense of direction." He shuffled his feet. "And I thought I saw Sasuke-kun going the other way and followed him, but I lost him and now I'm lost and I'm really very sorry for bothering -"

"Enough already," the other genin said, laughing loudly but not cruelly. He gestured to his left. "Follow this street down here until you reach a big street with a dango stand on the corner, then take a right and it'll take you straight to the hospital."

"Thank you very much, sempai," Naruto said, bowing and turning to leave.

"Hey," the genin who'd helped her said. "What's your name, pretty girl?"

"Naru," Naruto answered without hesitation. "Thanks again." He raced off before the boy could press him for more information. He didn't know enough to come up with convincing lies. He followed the boy's directions, and thankfully they proved accurate. Still, as he stood across the street from the hospital, he pondered just how he would find out whether Kakashi was there. There weren't any obviously guarded sections for dealing with prisoners.

His stomach rumbled as he realized that he hadn't had lunch. Then his eyes widened as he watched two civilian doctors walking out of the hospital's front door. Wasn't that the doctor who had helped Jiraiya and him in Earth Country? What was he doing here? He had been supposed to head to the Leaf Village? He followed the familiar doctor and smiled as he separated from the other doctor. Naruto waited until the doctor from Earth Country was in a fairly isolated stretch of road, then walked up to him.

"Excuse me," he began, then paused. Had he ever gotten the doctor's name?

"What is it, girl?" he asked.

"I'm Naruto," he whispered. "We met in Earth Country, remember. I brought my teacher to you when he was hit by a Rock ninja's bees. "

The doctor nodded slightly. "Transformed?" he asked quietly, and Naruto nodded back at him. "I'm not going to help you with whatever trouble you're in this time," he said. "I'm happy here, and I don't want to screw it up."

"How did you wind up here?" Naruto asked.

"I took a ship to this country," the doctor answered. "I was planning to travel to Fire Country like Jiraiya-sama suggested, but I met a woman and… well, you wouldn't understand."

"I see." Naruto paused. "Could you answer one question?"

"What question?"

"Do you know anything about medical ninja doing research on captured prisoners?" Naruto asked. "Would they do it at the hospital?"

The doctor grimaced and shook his head. "No. That sort of thing would go on at Storm's interrogation centers."

"Storm?"

"Special forces," the doctor answered.

"Like ANBU?" The doctor nodded, and Naruto grimaced. This was going to be tough. "Thank you. Please don't tell anyone I talked to you."

"I won't," the doctor answered, "but don't come to me again."

Naruto separated from the doctor and, thankful his direction sense wasn't as bad as he had pretended, he headed back toward the temple. He was about halfway toward the beginning of the road up the mountain when he heard a familiar voice speaking softly in a nearby alley.

"Sinobi Junhime," he whispered to himself, then edged closer to the alley. Not able to make out her words, he took to a nearby rooftop. From here, he was able to hear, though not see, the conversation clearly, and thankfully his presence seemed to go unnoticed.

"- confront Kaida-sama directly." The speaker was male, and Naruto didn't recognize his voice.

"I know that, Zeshin," Junhime replied irritably. "If I thought going directly against her would do any good, I would have done it already. We can't move openly yet." Naruto's eyes narrowed. What was going on?

"So we're agreed. Good." Zeshin paused. "You're certain the Toad Hermit is gone?" That, Naruto decided, was a very disturbing question.

"Yes," Junhime said.

"That gives us a window of opportunity to secure the Kyuubi." Naruto nodded to himself. This was not good. "I don't like the idea of facing the High Priestess, but I like facing her and Jiraiya together even less."

"We have some luck." Junhime was silent for a moment. "Sharingan Kakashi is the boy's teacher."

"Ah."

There was a long silence. "If we play our cards right, Kaida-sama won't be able to make a move against us without resorting to open treachery."

Naruto could almost feel Zeshin's grin. "Then we'd be able to move openly ourselves and deal with her once and for all."

"Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves," Junhime stated. "I'm going to go talk with Hatake now and see what he can tell me."

"Right." Deciding that any further listening would only open him to discovery, Naruto quietly returned to the street. It took all his willpower not to start following Junhime as she too emerged, but he forced himself to walk at a normal pace as he continued back to the temple.

* * *

All things considered, Hatake Kakashi was relatively comfortable. He was far too valuable a prisoner to be left to random, unguided mistreatment. What pain and discomfort he did suffer was carefully chosen and administered by Storm's interrogation squad. All in all, they didn't waste much time with outright torture. They knew that the measures it would take to break him had a high chance of leaving him permanently damaged, and they would not risk such things until the medical ninja had extracted his Sharingan and they were certain there would be no prisoner exchange with the Leaf.

Therefore, he wasn't too concerned when the four-man squad of Storm stopped outside the door to his cell. Even drugged, he was considered too dangerous to be escorted by any fewer. "Up against the wall, Copy Ninja," the squad's sole kunoichi, and evidently the commander, growled at him.

Kakashi didn't bother with pointless defiance, obeying the command and not resisting as they bound his arms. He probably could have killed one of the Cloud ninja - the youngest - but the other three would easily overpower him. Better to let them think him accepting of his fate until he saw an opportunity for a real escape attempt. "So what will it be today?" he asked lightly as he was pushed out of his cell. "Another session with the medical ninja?" Those were at least mildly interesting, as the medics were forced to take off the seal tag wrapped around his Sharingan, and he was able to use it to copy a handful of interesting medical techniques. He was going to have to show those to Tsunade if he ever got out of this.

"Be quiet," one of the guards said roughly. The squad marched him down the hall, and Kakashi quickly determined that they were headed for the interrogation chamber, not the improvised research center the medics had set up. The interrogation chamber was little different from its counterparts in the Leaf Village, which Kakashi found strangely comforting.

What was not comforting was the woman who walked in and dismissed the guards once he was securely hanging from the chains in the center of the room. "Junhime-san," he said flatly in greeting.

"Hatake." The young woman's voice was cold. "This can either be quick and painless, or it can be long and fun. Your choice."

Kakashi grinned weakly. "Fun for you and not for me, I take it?"

"Of course." Junhime tapped her foot. "Well?"

"What's the question?"

Junhime answered him with a name. "Uzumaki Naruto."

Kakashi wasn't quite able to hide his shock, but he still only said, "Who?"

"Don't play dumb, Hatake," Junhime snapped. "If you piss me off, I'll dig up some war veterans and let them play with you." She grinned. "Besides, he told me you were his teacher himself."

"Naruto's here?" Kakashi cursed himself for the slip even as the words left his lips.

"Yes." Junhime's eyes were hard. "I need you to tell me everything you know about him."

"Why?" Kakashi asked. "He's just a genin."

"Idiot." Junhime idly formed seals, and a bolt of electricity passed from her hands and into Kakashi. The Leaf jounin couldn't stop himself from screaming as he spasmed. "I know he's the Kyuubi, and I know the Toad Hermit is teaching him."

That was not good. "Why should I tell you anything?"

"If you do," Junhime said cruelly, "you might just get a nice little reunion. I've been trying to get him to stage a rescue attempt, but he just won't take the bait."

Kakashi frowned. Why would she want Naruto to try to rescue him? To start a war? "I'd love to see him again," he answered dryly after a moment, "but not as a fellow prisoner."

"Don't trust your student to succeed?" Junhime mocked him.

"He is still a genin," Kakashi answered. If anybody could pull that kind of crazy stunt off, it was Naruto, but Kakashi thought that taking on a whole village was a little much even for him.

"He's promised me that he'd make me pay if you were hurt," Junhime said after a moment. "I was planning to have some fun and give him some pictures, but the medical staff vetoed that plan."

"What a shame," Kakashi said.

"I could probably overrule them," Junhime said, "but I want your eye and I'll need their cooperation to get it." She paused. "How did you get it, anyway?"

"It's a long, old, boring story," Kakashi answered. "A pretty young thing like you has better things to do with her time."

"Is that so?" Junhime wandered over to a table in the corner of the room, where a number of sharp and pointy objects had been neatly arranged. "I could probably force that story out of you without the medical staff complaining too much. They want to know pretty badly." She held up a scalpel, letting the dim light reflect off the metal. "If you just happened to spill some information on the Kyuubi while I was at it, so much the better."

"So," Kakashi said after a long moment. "Why haven't you simply sent your questions to Storm's interrogation squad? An amateur like you isn't going to break me."

"I see. You're a smart one aren't you? Maybe too smart." Junhime carefully set the scalpel down.

Kakashi carefully watched as the woman approached. What was she planning now?

Junhime's hands formed seals, but nothing seemed to happen. She paced around the room before nodding firmly. "That should do."

"Genjutsu," Kakashi said after a moment. It wasn't an interrogation technique; it was directed outside the room. He quickly put the pieces together. "You don't want to be overheard."

"Now why would that be?" Junhime asked, smirking.

Kakashi thought back over their conversation. "You don't trust Storm."

"You are smart. I can't use Storm for this." Junhime's face was hard. "Now all any listeners are going to hear is you bravely resisting my hamfisted attempts at torture and refusing to give up anything."

"How humble of you," Kakashi observed dryly.

"There are things more important than pride, as I'm sure you're aware." Junhime moved until she was standing directly before Kakashi. Her hand played across his face briefly. "It's a wonder that you hid this under that mask. It's rather handsome."

"Are you trying to seduce me?" Kakashi asked incredulously.

"Would it work?" Junhime responded, her voice all serious.

Kakashi bit back a laugh. "Of course not."

"Of course not," Junhime repeated. "That would make things too easy, wouldn't it?" Her hand dropped and she backed away slightly.

"Make what too easy?" Kakashi pressed. "Why are you afraid of Storm listening in?"

"To get what I want, of course," Junhime said, answering the first question. She smiled a smile Kakashi didn't trust one bit as she replied to the second question. "I intend to convince you to tell me what I need to know, and it could get messy if there were any eavesdroppers."

* * *

**Day Seventy-five**

Hiraki Arata barely had time to scream as the chakra-charged winds pushed him up against the wall. Even as he struggled to draw a kunai, his foe was upon him, her weapon going for his throat and murder in her eyes. He swallowed nervously. She could kill him in an instant and there was nothing he could do to stop her. He hadn't stood a chance.

On the other side of the small courtyard of the Waterfall's unofficial embassy in the Leaf Village, Chiba Ikkei laughed nastily. "I think Maya-chan's pissed at you, Arata."

Their team's kunoichi slowly retracted her naginata from Arata's throat. "You're pathetic, Arata," she declared with a snort. "No wonder you just gave up without trying when you were faced with a real opponent. Actually fighting would have been even more embarrassing."

"You saw how fast that Lee was, Maya," Arata protested as he rubbed at where the metal point of Maya's polearm had scraped his skin. "I couldn't even see him move, and he had weights on. There wasn't any way I could have won."

"You still could have tried," Maya grumbled, "instead of disgracing our whole village."

"Just a moment ago you said it would have been more embarrassing if he did fight," Ikkei pointed out as he walked over to join them.

Arata gave the other boy a thankful look, but Maya just grunted. "Consistency is overrated," she grumbled as she let her weapon vanish in a puff of smoke. "The point is that Arata is pathetic. He didn't even last five seconds against me."

"I wasn't expecting you to start off so strong in a spar," Arata complained. "You're supposed to warm up first." He rubbed at his neck again. "Besides, it's hardly a surprise that you win when I don't have any water." He grimaced. "You two are lucky you don't have to worry about that."

"You should carry some like those Mist," Ikkei proposed.

"That only works for one or two techniques," Arata said. "Water is pretty heavy, after all."

"Stop changing the subject," Maya interjected. "We're supposed to be talking about how disgustingly weak Arata is, not making excuses for him."

Ikkei laughed. "I forgot." He rubbed at his chin in thought. "So would you say half or three-quarters of a first-year academy class could give Arata a tough fight, Maya-chan?"

The kunoichi cocked her head, clearly pondering the question. Arata groaned, standing. "If you two are going to be that way, fine," he said. "You can train here. I'm going to go out."

"Looking for your girlfriend so you can say goodbye?" Ikkei asked. "You know, inter- village romances are doomed from the start."

Arata rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said. "She's not my girlfriend, and you know it. Bye."

"Tell Nissho-sensei before you leave," Ikkei said before turning to Maya. "Shall we?" he asked. Maya summoned her weapon once more in response, and shaking his head Arata left the courtyard. His teammates could be real jerks sometimes. It took him several moments to find Matsuyo Nissho sitting behind the desk in what might have been the ambassador's office had there currently been a ninja holding that particular post.

"You need something, Arata-kun?" the recently promoted jounin asked.

"I'm going to go out and have a look around," he said. Then he paused. "I don't think I remembered to say this when you showed up, but congratulations on making jounin."

Nissho laughed. "Why do you remember so suddenly?"

"Well, I was thinking and I realized that after the promotion ceremony tomorrow we'll head on back, and then we'll all get new missions. We won't be with you anymore, I imagine."

Nissho grinned. "That's not all, though. You were going to segue into asking me about your own potential for promotion."

"I'm that transparent?" Arata asked. He seated himself in one of the chairs across from the jounin. "Ikkei and Maya don't think much of my chances."

"I was the Waterfall's representative on the examination board," Nissho said after a moment. "I'm not allowed to tell anyone about what we discussed, even after the promotions are announced." He laughed. "If people knew how much politicking went on during the examination board meetings they'd probably lose faith in the entire Chuunin Exam system."

"It's really like that?" Arata asked.

"Of course," Nissho answered. "Anything involving that many people from that many different villages comes down to politics. It's just a fact of life."

"You can tell me what you think, though, right?" Arata pressed after a moment. "Just your personal opinion."

Nissho laughed again. "I suppose so." He paused for a moment. "You did win a fight, which counts for a lot," he said. "In that fight you performed well, though not exceptionally."

Arata frowned. "Not in the second fight, though."

"There's no dishonor in acknowledging a foe you can't defeat," Nissho said, "but the speed with which you conceded raises many questions."

"I didn't need any more time!" Arata protested. "I can't do anything against an opponent I can't even see, and there wasn't any point in getting myself beaten bloody to prove it!"

"Easy, Arata-kun," Nissho said. "I'm on your side. I'm just saying what any observer would say."

Arata sighed, then stood. "Thank you," he said. "I'll be back in an hour or two."

"All right," Nissho said easily. "Tell Sakura-san that she was very impressive for me."

"Damn it!" Arata snarled. "She's not my girlfriend!"

"Did I say she was?" Nissho smiled. "It's hard to imagine who else you could be going to go see."

"I just want to get out of here and get some fresh air," Arata grumbled. He had to admit to himself that he wouldn't be displeased if he saw Haruno Sakura, but he wasn't about to go looking for her. He wouldn't even know where to start anyway. "Like I said, I'll be back in an hour or two." Nissho chuckled, and Arata left.

He spent the next fifteen minutes aimlessly wandering the streets of the Leaf Village, pondering where to go. Maybe he would head to that ramen stand again. While it hadn't been the life-altering experience Naruto had described, it had been pretty good. Trying to remember the directions, he hesitated at an intersection.

Maya appeared before him, her face grim. "Arata," she said seriously. "Nissho-sensei wants us."

Arata blinked. "What?" Why was the jounin calling him back so soon? He followed Maya back, and soon was with her and Ikkei in the office Nissho was using.

The older ninja was studying a small scroll, a worried look on his face. "What's wrong?" Ikkei asked.

"I just received a scroll from a messenger bird," Nissho said. After a moment, he turned the scroll around so that the three genin could read it.

Arata skimmed it, and his face paled as he read the terse reports. "…coordinated strikes by the Valley on multiple outposts in the occupied Waterfall Country…numerous skirmishes with Valley infiltrators along the cease-fire line…Valley forces relocating from the Rice Field border…intelligence reports of increased communication between Valley and Rock…"

"This is," Maya began, and then her voice faltered.

"War," Arata finished weakly for her.

Nissho nodded. "That's what it looks like," he said.

"What should we do?" Ikkei asked.

"For right now," Nissho responded, "you should do nothing. Just try to enjoy yourselves at the promotion ceremony tomorrow and not worry too much yet."

"And you, Nissho-sensei?" Maya asked.

The jounin stood. "I am instructed to seek an immediate audience with Hokage-sama and deliver to her the Waterfall's request that the Leaf prepare to honor the alliance treaty between our villages and send forces to our defense if necessary."

* * *

Jiraiya was beginning to believe that this might be a very bad day. It took a great deal of self-control to not curse freely as he stared at the burnt, overgrown ruins where the House of the Falling Plum had stood the last time he was in Lightning Country. Of course, he had continued to receive regular reports from the brothel's owner. It was obvious that the damage was not limited to a single agent; it seemed likely that his entire network in this country was compromised. Every single one of the routine, comforting reports he had received in the past years was likely a forgery.

He had to consider the worst case scenario. In that case, the entire leadership of the Hidden Cloud had been co-opted and was little more than a pawn of Akatsuki. He didn't think that terribly likely, though. Kaida would have to have known if that was the case. It was far more plausible that some rogue faction was operating in alliance with Akatsuki. He had to uncover them, and quickly. Akatsuki could not be allowed to maintain even partial control over one of the five great powers.

Jiraiya's instincts told him to race back to the Cloud Village to consult with Kaida, but he knew that was foolish. If the situation was anywhere near as bad as he feared, that would only tip off Akatsuki. He had to keep them unaware that he was on their trail. He would have to continue as he had been, putting in enough appearances to create the impression that he was making his slow, drunken, lecherous way toward the library Kaida had sent him to while he worked to find the evidence needed to dispose of the Akatsuki scum.

The first thing he was going to have to do was to check and see whether the owner of this brothel had been as thoughtful as Abe Gihei had been. Gihei had indicated that he should visit here for more information, and hopefully some message had survived the destruction. Jiraiya carefully checked to make sure no one was watching; fortunately, as was the custom for this sort of establishment in Lightning Country, the House of the Falling Plum had been built some distance outside the town it served, and few people walked out here just to look at ruins.

Once he was certain the coast was clear, the legendary Sannin began to pick his way through the ruins. The arsonist had been pretty thorough; the upper levels of the building were completely gone, and all that remained of the first floor were a handful of charred, half-collapsed walls. Jiraiya's keen memory allowed him to easily find his way to the owner's office.

The owner's heavy stone desk - imported from Earth Country and made by a ninja-trained craftsman - had survived the fire intact, as Jiraiya had expected. It was obvious that the now-empty drawers had been searched through, though whether it was by honest investigators, looters, or some more sinister person he couldn't say. Anything that had been in those, however, wasn't what he was looking for.

It took him several moments to locate the hidden compartment, but when he did his hand hesitated over the hidden latch. It was better to be safe than sorry, Jiraiya decided, and he dug a brush out of his pack. He used it to trace a quick sequence of arcane characters in the ash that covered the top of the desk. Once he was satisfied with those, he bit his thumb and let the blood drip into the center of the pattern, connecting the two halves of the final character.

That character glowed briefly, and then the harsh red light raced along the rest of the pattern. The characters shifted and twisted, and Jiraiya frowned as he studied their motions. His hunch had been correct. Someone had placed seals inside the hidden compartment, likely set to release as soon as it was opened. Well, that settled the question of whether there had been foul play. Most likely, it was a trap for him.

Jiraiya brushed his hand over the desk's surface, destroying the pattern he had drawn. For a few instants afterward, the ashes still glowed a faint red. As the light faded, Jiraiya let his fingers tap on the desk's surface. Was it worth it to try to open the drawer? Whatever message his agent might have left was no doubt long gone, but the form the trap took could provide a valuable clue.

Still, while Jiraiya was confident he could avoid serious harm from the trap, if he had been setting it he would have built in some form of alarm. He couldn't risk alerting Akatsuki. He was going to have to try something else. Slowly, he picked his way back through the rubble, erasing the signs of his passage as he went.

A bit more than an hour later, he was in the bar attached to the nearby village's only inn, sighing morosely as he stared into his freshly poured drink. The bartender glanced around the nearly empty bar, then returned his attention to Jiraiya. "Something bothering you?" he asked.

"I suppose." Jiraiya took a careful sip. "I went a bit out of my way to visit the House of the Rising Plum again, and I find out its been burned to the ground."

"Ah." The bartender shook his head. "When was the last time you were out this way? It burnt down almost two years ago." Around the same time Gihei had been killed, then. The bartender shook his head. "That was a nasty thing. Some sort of ninja fight, I think. We tried to fight the fires, but some of them just wouldn't go out." He shuddered. "Burnt for a week before it went out on its own."

Jiraiya didn't have to ask to know that those flames had been black. That meant Uchiha Itachi. "A ninja fight?" Jiraiya asked. "Some drunken Cloud get into a fight over a whore?"

The bartender slowly shrugged. "Don't know," he lied.

Jiraiya didn't press. "The owner," he said after drinking some more. "Did he make it out okay? We're old friends."

"Can't say I've ever seen you around here before," the bartender responded after a moment.

"I usually stayed at the House," Jiraiya replied. "Sotaru-san might have mentioned me. Jiro, the merchant."

The bartender glanced about once more. "What do you sell?" he asked suspiciously.

Jiraiya leaned closer. "Adult fiction," he answered.

"He left a message for you," the bartender said quietly. "He said to tell you that it wasn't an agent, it was a member." He paused. "I don't know what that means, and I don't care to know. If Sotaru wasn't a good friend I'd report you myself. I don't want to get into any trouble with the Cloud. I suggest you finish your drink, go to bed, and leave this town in the morning. Understood?"

"Perfectly," Jiraiya said. Not an agent, but a member, huh? Sotaru had believed that Akatsuki didn't just have a friend in the Cloud, but that some high-ranking Cloud was one of the actual members of Akatsuki. The disguised ninja drained his cup in a single cup. "Thank you."

"For what, stranger?" the bartender replied. "We've never spoken."

* * *

**Day Seventy-six**

Sakura arrived early for the promotion ceremony. She just couldn't stand to sit around Naruto's apartment worrying, so instead she killed a little time walking as slowly as she could toward the ninja academy, where the ceremony would be held. Apparently, her willpower was greater than some, because when she entered the large lecture hall where it would be held, Ino and Chouji were already waiting there, along with a handful of gray-uniformed chuunin and other observers.

A particularly grim-faced chuunin sat in a chair behind a table set up at the front of the room. Sakura's eyes instantly went to the items laid carefully in rows on the table: five Leaf uniform jackets and a single gray jacket that had to belong to either the Waterfall or the Mist. Sakura swallowed nervously. Six people had passed, but who were they?

"Over here!" Chouji called out, waving Sakura over to where he and Ino were sitting. Sakura glanced at Ino. The other girl's face was impassive, but after a long moment she nodded.

Sakura walked over to the pair and seated herself next to them. Ino's eyes lingered on the pink-haired girl's forehead protector, resting properly on her forehead, and Sakura swallowed slightly. Ino's own forehead protector was in its familiar location around her waist. The two girl's eyes met, and Sakura felt as frozen as if Ino had used her Paralysis Technique. They hadn't really spoken since the third exam. "How is your leg?" she managed to ask after a moment.

"Fine," Ino said shortly. "Like you said, it was a weak explosive tag." Chouji was silent, and it was obvious that both of them were waiting to say what Sakura was going to say.

"I'm not going to say I'm sorry for fighting you with all I had," Sakura stated after a few seconds. "That's what we wanted, isn't it?"

Ino's eyes flared briefly. "You were wearing weights. Is that fighting with everything you have?"

"No," Sakura answered. Then she smiled wryly. "I was afraid if I stopped to take them off your shadows would catch me."

Ino was silent for what seemed an eternity, and then she laughed. "I guess that makes me feel a little better." Her eyes hardened again for just an instant. "I wasn't kidding when I said I wasn't planning on just watching your back."

"And I wasn't kidding when I said good," Sakura returned.

Ino nodded. "Friends?" she offered cautiously after a moment.

Sakura nodded slowly. "That sounds good," she said, her voice quiet. Chouji smiled slightly, but he didn't say anything.

Over the next several minutes, the room filled with people, many more than Sakura was expecting. The rest of the genin who had made it to the third exam were there of course, along with all the examiners and their assistants, but so were numerous ninja and civilians that Sakura didn't recognize, including one man in full ANBU uniform, including the mask.

Finally, the ceremony was almost ready to begin. Tsunade, clad in the full formal red and white robes of the Hokage, stood at the front of the room. Shizune, in uniform, stood behind the table, while the three examiners were off to one side. Tsunade nodded, and Anko stepped forward, whispering into the ear of a gray-uniformed chuunin. The chuunin nodded and slipped into the crowd.

A few instants later, another chuunin appeared behind Ino, Chouji, and Sakura. "All the examinees should head up to the front," he ordered softly, and then he vanished again.

A few minutes later, all fifteen genin had gathered in a rough line at the front of the room, facing Tsunade. "I'm not much of one for long speeches," Tsunade said, "so I'll be brief. Every one of these genin has proved themselves an excellent ninja by making it this far. There is no shame or dishonor in failure here. I hope that those of you who will be receiving bad news tonight have better luck in six months at the Grass Village."

The legendary Sannin paused before continuing. "My teacher once stated that the motto of the Chuunin should be, 'If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess Earth, run in the fields and seek strength. If you have both Heaven and Earth, you will have success in even the most dangerous times.'" Tsunade's gaze swept the line of genin. "Tonight, we will honor those who have found both Heaven and Earth."

There was a roar of applause from behind the genin, and Sakura resisted the urge to turn and look. Even though there were far fewer people, confined by the walls of the room the applause seemed several times louder than the thunderous sound of the crowd at the arena. Tsunade waited for it to die down before speaking again. "Before we begin, there is one more thing that must be said. In this Chuunin Selection Exam, we had the honor of hosting guests from the Hidden Mist. The examination board has no authority to promote them, however one of them performed exceptionally enough that we felt required to prepare a recommendation for promotion." A bound scroll appeared in Tsunade's hands. "Aoki Saburo, please step forward."

The crowd applauded politely, but not terribly enthusiastically, as the named ninja stepped out of line. At a subtle gesture from Shizune, the boy moved over to the three examiners and exchanged shallow bows with them before approaching Tsunade. A hint of nervousness was clear in Saburo as he bowed before her and accepted the scroll. Then, he returned to his place beside his two teammates.

"From the Hidden Village of Waterfall," Tsunade said, and Sakura thought that she could detect a bit of sourness in the Hokage's voice, "the examination board has promoted one ninja. Hiraki Arata, please step forward." Like Saburo before him, Arata exchanged bows with the examiners, then Tsunade. Instead of taking a scroll from the Hokage, he received the gray armored vest from Shizune. He hesitated a moment, then slipped it on.

The crowd applauded again, and Sakura and the rest of genin joined them. Arata grinned, then returned to the line. "From the Hidden Village of the Leaf," Tsunade began, then had to pause again for another round of applause. "From the Hidden Leaf," she repeated, "five ninja have been awarded promotion to the rank of chuunin. Please step forward as your name is called." She hesitated, and then, a bit of acid in her voice, said, "Please hold your applause until the end." There was slightly nervous laughter, and then Tsunade began to announce the names.

"Hyuuga Neji." Unsurprised, the Hyuuga prodigy walked over to the examiners. As he began to bow to Shiranui Genma, Tsunade announced the next name. "Rock Lee." The green- clad ninja followed his rival. "Haruno Sakura."

It took Sakura a moment to realize that her name had been called. She took a stumbling step forward, shaking her strangely befuddled head to clear it. Slowly, she walked up to and bowed before Genma. The first examiner returned her bow, his toothpick twitching. "Congratulations," he murmured softly.

"Thank you," Sakura replied, then moved on the Morino Ibiki. She hesitated slightly as she heard Tsunade call Ino's name, then she bowed. The interrogator bowed back wordlessly, and Sakura moved on as Tsunade called for Tenten to step forward. Sakura stared at Anko for a long moment before bowing a third time. "Thank you," she whispered before Anko could say anything.

"Good luck," her sometimes teacher replied as she bowed back at Sakura.

Then, finally, Sakura moved to stand before Tsunade. The pink-haired girl bowed deeply, and Tsunade nodded before giving a shallow bow in return. She didn't say anything, and after a moment Sakura stepped over to the table. Shizune carefully picked up one of the uniform jackets, then handed it over.

The garment almost slipped through Sakura's suddenly nerveless fingers. Unlike the others on the table, this jacket was slightly worn. "This is," she began.

"Your father's," Shizune finished for her. "Your mother wanted you to have it."

"My mother?" Sakura asked disbelievingly, her eyes watering. "Why…" She couldn't finish. Why had her mother given her this? Why was she then still avoiding her? "Damn it," Sakura whispered softly. "Thank you," she told Shizune more loudly, before slowly putting the armored jacket on over her red one. Then, she turned away and rejoined the rest of the examinees. A few moments later, Ino was standing beside her in line once more.

"Congratulations," Chouji whispered to the two of them.

"Thank you," both girls replied, almost in unison. There was no more time for discussion, as Tenten rejoined the line and Tsunade spoke. "Now," she said dryly, "you may applaud." After half an instant, the crowd complied.

A few minutes later, everyone was outside the academy, where refreshments had been placed. Several minutes passed in a blur to Sakura. At some point, she found herself facing Tenten, for the moment unmolested by well-wishing strangers. The other girl smiled. "Congratulations," she said.

"To you too," Sakura replied.

"I have to admit," Tenten said, "I didn't think you'd make it this far back at the beginning."

"Me neither," Sakura admitted. "I had a lot of help."

"Not just that," Tenten said. "All the help in the world doesn't do any good if you don't have what it takes."

"Congratulations, girls." Both fresh chuunin started, then turned to face Tsunade, who had appeared beside them, a probably alcoholic drink in hand.

"H-hokage-sama," Tenten stammered out nervously, bowing.

Tsunade nodded. "I was very impressed with your performance, Tenten-kun," she stated. "I expect great things of you."

"Th-thank you," Tenten managed to say.

Tsunade turned to Sakura. "As for you," she said gravely.

"Yes?" Sakura squeaked, unable to respond in more dignified fashion.

"I expect you to be at my office by eight tomorrow morning. Understood?"

"Y-yes, Hokage-sama," Sakura replied. She felt almost like she could faint.

"By the way, Sakura-chan," Tsunade continued, grinning, "my apprentice can afford to be a little less formal." Tenten stiffened, glancing in surprise at Sakura.

The pink-haired chuunin swallowed. "Yes… Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade shook her head. "That'll do for now, I suppose," she said. "Congratulations to you both again." The Hokage slipped back into the crowd, leaving Tenten and Sakura alone again.

"Apprentice," Tenten said softly.

"Is something wrong, Tenten-san?" Sakura asked.

The other girl shook her head. "No," she said, offering a slightly fake smile. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Sakura replied, and with a nod Tenten moved off. Sakura shook her own head. That had been a little weird. Then she didn't have any more time to think, as a Grass ninja approached to offer his congratulations.

After several more minutes, Sakura's path crossed with the Waterfall team. "Congratulations, Arata-san," she said to newly promoted Waterfall chuunin.

"Thank you, Sakura-san" Arata responded, but he seemed strangely distracted.

"Are you all right?" Sakura asked.

Arata hesitated, and beside him Maya snorted. "Nissho-sensei's already told the Hokage," she said. "It isn't a secret."

"Right," Arata said weakly. "Yesterday we got a messenger bird from the village."

"It looks like there might be war with the Valley again soon," Ikkei finished for his teammate.

"Oh." Sakura wasn't certain what else to say, and after a few awkward moments she said her goodbyes and moved on.

The next new chuunin she spotted was Neji. The Hyuuga prodigy was in deep conversation with the uniformed ANBU, and Sakura waited just out of earshot for them to finish. When the ANBU departed, she stepped forward and offered Neji her congratulations.

"The same to you," Neji replied.

"What was that about?" Sakura asked curiously, glancing at the ANBU's back.

"I don't believe I can say," Neji responded after a moment.

That said quite a lot, given that he had been speaking to an an ANBU. "I see," Sakura said. The two stood wordlessly for several moments.

Then Mitarashi Anko emerged from the milling crowd. "Ah, Neji-kun. Just the person I was looking for."

"Yes?" the Hyuuga prodigy asked.

"It seems to me," Anko replied, "that there are a few people missing from this little party. I'd like to borrow your eyes for a moment to make sure."

Neji frowned, but he nodded and formed a seal. "Byakugan," he hissed, and the veins around his eyes bulged. A moment later, they relaxed. "Mitarashi Kimi and the Mist team are gone," he declared.

Sakura frowned, but Anko just nodded. "As I thought," she said grimly. "It looks like you two will be getting your first mission as chuunin early."

"Mitarashi-sensei?" Sakura said in surprise. Anko didn't answer, but her hand darted out, grabbing someone by the ear and pulling him over to join them.

"Hey," Shikamaru said in annoyance, rubbing at his ear after Anko had released him. "The exam's over. I'm not your subordinate anymore."

"This isn't about the exam," Anko said. "This is more important."

Shikamaru straightened. "What is it?"

"As Neji-kun here just confirmed," she replied, "my sister and her team seem to have disappeared. It might be nothing, but better safe than sorry." Her face was flat and her voice serious. "I'm going to go let Tsunade-sama know. I want you three to go find them and make sure they aren't up to anything. Don't cause a fuss; we don't want to start a panic over nothing. Shikamaru-kun, you're in command. Understood?"

Sakura swallowed nervously. "Yes, Mitarashi-sensei," she replied in near-unison with the other two young chuunin.

* * *

The Mist kunoichi paused on a rooftop, waiting for a pair of Leaf ninja to pass below. Fortunately, they were genin, and unlikely to spot her black-clothed form on this cloudy night. She frowned behind her cloth mask. She was going to be more careful. If that had been one of the handful of ANBU patrols about tonight, something as simple as the brightness of her eyes could have given her away. As the genin stopped moving below her, the kunoichi had to resist the sudden urge to curse.

She was on a strict schedule, and she didn't have time to wait. Running her fingers through her recently-cut hair, she bit at her lip in thought. Could she eliminate these two swiftly and silently? Long ago, when she was younger, she would have been certain, but it had been many years since she had done this sort of thing. It would probably be best to try to put them to sleep with genjutsu.

Fortunately, before she had a chance to put her plan into action, the genin below moved on. As soon as she was certain that they had indeed passed, the kunoichi leapt silently to the next rooftop. If she moved quickly, she could still make it on time. Hopefully, the ANBU hadn't changed their patrol paths, and she could make it to the gates without any interruptions.

A few moments later, she landed lightly on the surface of a lake not far from the gates. Here, she could wait until the proper moment. Her hand reached up to adjust her forehead protector. It had been dangerous to bring it with her to the Leaf Village, but to a Mist ninja of her generation that tiny piece of metal meant a lot. The best friend she had ever known had died so she could earn it, and she would rather die herself than ever leave it behind.

Slowly, her hands worked through seals. "Water Replication Technique," she hissed, and she sent the two clones that she created to scout ahead. She didn't want to be surprised, after all. While she waited for the clones to return, she checked her limited supply of weapons. Hopefully, it would be enough to do what had to be done. She slipped a kunai into one hand and took a swing at the empty air, testing the weight.

Precisely two minutes later, after the clones had finished their work of ensuring that the four gate guards were in the same positions as always, the kunoichi moved. First, the two guards on the ground would be dealt with. They would be chuunin, but not terribly strong ones. The area around the gate was brightly lit, but that was what cloaking techniques were for.

Thankfully, her genjutsu worked, and she was able to slip up behind one of the guards without either ninja noticing her approach. A single kunai strike to the throat, and that guard died with a quiet gurgle. The other guard stared at the Mist ninja with wide eyes for a half-second, then opened his mouth to sound the alarm. Before he could, the kunoichi formed a single seal, and he froze. Her already bloody kunai flew from her hands and punched through the man's armored jacket, embedding itself in his heart. Silently, he toppled.

Next would be the two guards on top of the wall. Risking a moment's hesitation to double-check their positions, the kunoichi crawled up the sheer wall. She emerged, as planned, directly behind one guard. One gloved hand clasped over his mouth, while the other thrust her second kunai into his back. Even as she struck, the Leaf ninja managed to break out of her grasp. Cursing slightly, she spun into a kick, knocking the direly wounded ninja off the wall. The fall would hopefully prove fatal, but she had no time to make sure.

The other guard had noticed his companion's fate and was already racing for the alarm bell. The Mist kunoichi's hands blurred, her chakra snatching water out of the slightly humid air. The stone under the Leaf guard's feet slickened, and he stumbled slightly. This gave the kunoichi enough time to close the distance, and a moment after that he was dead.

As she stood over the corpse, the kunoichi almost fell to her knees, breathing heavily. It had been years since she had needed to exert herself like that. She offered up a silent prayer of thanks to the teachers who she hated so much years ago, but whose strict lessons ensured that even now she could call herself a mistress of the silent kill. She shook her head. She had no time for reflection. Her mission wasn't over yet.

She moved back down to the ground and studied the gates for a moment. She hadn't been able to get a good look at them beforehand, but fortunately the Leaf hadn't seemed to bother adding any special precautions. She unbarred them, then slowly pulled one of the massive doors open. Then, she waited, but not for long.

The two ninja seemed to appear out of nowhere. The kunoichi frowned as she saw the forehead protector the man wore. "Sound," she hissed softly. She hadn't been told Orochimaru's scum were involved.

The Sound ninja, wearing a black armored jacket rather than the standard uniform, adjusted his glasses. "Is there a problem?" he asked lightly.

"As you should be aware, Yakushi-san," the kunoichi replied, "it is not possible to be a deep cover agent without making some friends, and I lost friends in your attack."

Kabuto smiled. "You would be the Mist's spymaster, then. I'm very impressed by your work."

The female Mist hunter ninja that stood by his side coughed. "There's no time for chitchat. Did everything go according to plan?"

The Mist spy wasn't able to stop herself from gasping at the voice. "Shizuru-neesan?" she asked unthinkingly. Kabuto glanced between the two ninja.

The hunter ninja stood still for a moment, before nodding stiffly and repeating her question. "Did everything go according to plan?"

"Yes," the spy responded. "No alarms."

The hunter ninja nodded once more, then raised her hand. Squad after squad of Mist and Sound emerged from the dark forest and began to silently slip through the Leaf's open gates. The hunter ninja's attention returned to the spy. "Stick with me, Amaya-chan," she ordered, and despite the familiar form of address there was not even a hint of softness in her voice.

Kabuto frowned, looked the spy in the eyes, and then chuckled. "So that's it," he said, earning a puzzled glance from the hunter ninja. "Shall we proceed, then, ladies?" he asked as three Sound ninja hesitated nearby, waiting for his signal to follow the rest of the strike force into the Leaf Village.

* * *

"Anything?" Shikamaru asked as he landed in a crouch beside Neji on the rooftop of the building where the Mist team had been given quarters.

The Hyuuga prodigy shook his head. "They aren't inside their rooms or anywhere nearby, and it looks like most of their belongings are gone," he stated. He didn't deactivate his Byakugan. "If we get close enough, I'll find them, but they could be anywhere in the village by now."

Sakura, standing not far away from the two boys, grimaced. "So, now what?"

"I don't suppose either of you know any tracking techniques?" Shikamaru asked. "We could get their scent from their rooms if we have to. Neji?"

"No," he replied.

Shikamaru nodded, as though he had been expecting this. "Sakura?"

The pink-haired girl frowned. It was possible that there were some snakes that could track over this distance by scent, but she didn't know them and wasn't confident that she could summon them even if they existed. "No."

"I was hoping Kakashi-sensei had given you a scroll for his dogs," Shikamaru said with a sigh. "I suppose we'll just have to figure out where they might head." He sighed again as he settled into a thinking pose. "Where would I go if I was a Mist ninja bent on something troublesome?"

"The gates?" Sakura suggested.

Shikamaru shook his head. "You wouldn't waste an opportunity like this on the gates. You'd want to strike a target you couldn't get to otherwise, then head for the gates." He stood. "Let's swing by the administrative buildings."

"Right," Neji said, and the three chuunin moved. Several minutes later, the Hyuuga spoke again. "I've got them; all four of them are about 100 yards ahead. H- Midori is using a genjutsu to try and cloak them."

"Where are they going?" Shikamaru asked.

"For the Hokage's - they're splitting up." Neji grimaced. "Mitarashi Kimi and Midori are still moving toward the Hokage's office. Shimano and Aoki are heading toward the hospital."

"All right," Sakura said grimly. "Who follows who, Shikamaru?"

"We're not splitting up," the no-longer-rookie chuunin responded. He stopped moving, and the other two young ninja moved to his side. "No matter how I divide things up, one of us would be following two of them, and I don't trust any of us to take on those odds against either group." He smiled. "Besides, we're not on our own here."

"So, what do we do?" Sakura asked.

"We go after Shimano and Aoki. We can take them, then head after the other two." He nodded to himself. "Sakura, send word back to Mitarashi-sensei and tell her to send ANBU or somebody to the Hokage's office."

Sakura blinked. What did he want her to - oh. How had he known? Slowly, she rolled up the sleeve of her red jacket, but neither boy showed surprise at the snake tattoo this motion revealed. Grimacing, Sakura bit at her thumb, then drew a bloody line down the black coils and formed seals. "Summoning Technique." Her hand pressed against the rooftop.

There was a burst of smoke, and when it faded a large gray snake was coiled around her feet. "What do you want?" it asked. Shikamaru actually seemed a little surprised when the feminine voice emerged from the serpent, but Neji didn't stir at all.

"Could you find Mitarashi-sensei and give her a message, Seseki-san?" Sakura asked the summoned creature politely. She quickly ran through the situation and the trio's current plans. "You got that?"

"Yes," the snake replied. "I understand."

"Thank you," Sakura replied automatically.

Seseki laughed. "You're unusual for a snake mistress," she said, then vanished in a blur of motion.

The two boys were silent for a moment, then Shikamaru spoke. "All right, then. Are they still heading for the hospital?"

Neji nodded. "They're about four blocks away."

"All right, then." Shikamaru thought for an instant. "Let's do this simply. Sakura, you're fastest. You circle around them and cut them off. Neji and I will be able to take them from behind once you slow them down."

"Right," Sakura replied.

"Whatever you do," Shikamaru said warningly, "don't strike the first blow. They're certainly acting suspicious, but they haven't done anything explicitly hostile yet."

"I understand." Sakura took a deep breath. Fortunately, summoning Seseki hadn't been as draining as she'd feared, and she actually felt at fighting strength. "Good luck," she said, and then she moved.

She actually surprised herself at how quickly she covered the distance, and the two Mist ninja were still a block away from the hospital when Sakura landed lightly in the middle of the street in front of them. "I never got to congratulate you, Aoki-san," she stated.

The male ninja cursed softly, but Ren held up a hand, and her teammate said no more. "Sakura-san," she said.

Sakura nodded. "Ren-san." Carefully, she slipped shuriken into her hands.

"What brings you here?" Sakura noted the slight movements that told her Ren was following suit as she posed the question.

"I think I should be asking you that," Sakura said. How much longer was it going to take Neji and Shikamaru to catch up?

"We don't have time for this, Ren-chan," Saburo snarled, and then he moved.

In an instant, Sakura released her shuriken. A kunai appeared in the male Mist ninja's hands, parrying the projectiles that got too close as he charged through them. Ren threw her own shuriken to cover his advance, and Sakura was forced to roll out of the way, leaving her vulnerable to Saburo.

He struck quickly, kunai arcing down at Sakura's neck, but then he suddenly leapt away. An instant later another kunai flew through the air where he had stood. "It seems we aren't too late," Shikamaru said lightly. Neji jumped down from the rooftop the two occupied, landing in between the two Mist ninja in a fighting stance.

Ren's hands formed seals. "Run, Saburo!"

"But, Ren-chan," he began to protest.

"Just do it!" she snapped as an aura of flame surrounded her hands. "The mission comes first." Grimacing, her teammate vanished in a sudden blur of motion.

Sakura, coming to her feet, tensed to follow, but Shikamaru called out, "We stick together. Take Shimano down first!"

"It won't be that easy," Ren returned. She flipped away from Neji and at Sakura, the flames around her hands extending into the Claw of the Fire Dragon.

Sakura summoned her own fiery claws to parry the strike, but as the two sets of talons locked against each other Ren landed, her other hand lashing out with a second set of claws. Cursing, Sakura pushed herself away quickly enough that only the weak edges of the flames touched her. It still hurt like hell, though, and she stumbled, almost falling.

Ren wasn't able to press her attack as Neji came at her from behind. In an instant, Ren's claws retracted and she whirled about to face the new attacker. She danced around a Gentle Fist strike, one fire-wreathed hand plunging at Neji's stomach. The Hyuuga prodigy easily dodged the blow, counter-attacking and forcing the Mist kunoichi to dart backward.

Ren's foot traced a line between them, and fiery dragons erupted from the street, twisting around each other to form a wall blocking Neji's advance. This didn't buy her much time, as Sakura had recovered and charged. Ren turned about and struck at Sakura's face. The Leaf kunoichi didn't dodge or hesitate as the blow landed home, then her kunai traced a bloody line down Ren's side from an impossible angle. There was a brief blurring, and Sakura was standing unharmed almost a foot to the side of where she had appeared to be.

Ren's barrier had died down, and now Neji was coming at the wounded ninja as well. "Damn it!" she snarled, and then a Gentle Fist strike took her in the side. She froze for half an instant, then exploded into a thick plume of black smoke.

As she reappeared, there was a sudden explosion of bright light overhead. Ren stared at the floating light bomb for almost long enough to be caught by Shikamaru's shadow, but she jumped away before he could make contact. "The same technique as Yamanaka used against Sakura-san?" she asked as she landed on the rooftop opposite him.

Shikamaru just snorted. As though that had been a signal, Neji and Sakura came at the Mist kunoichi from opposite sides. Snarling, she began to spin, tendrils of flame extending from her hands. Neji managed to stop his advance in time, but Sakura was struck by the whirling flames, sending her flying back off the rooftop. Ren didn't wait for Neji to resume his attack, jumping to another building. Shikamaru was waiting for her there, and another light bomb exploded. His shadow came at Ren from three directions.

The Mist kunoichi had just a moment to survey the battlefield, and then she leapt away again, avoiding the fourth tendril of shadow sneaking toward the obvious route of escape. When she landed, Sakura pressed a kunai against her back. "That's enough, Ren-san," she said.

The flames around the Mist kunoichi's hands died down. "How?" she asked, glancing at where Sakura had fallen on the ground below after her last, failed attack. The girl on the ground disappeared. "Genjutsu," Ren hissed. "You didn't really attack with the Hyuuga freak."

Shikamaru and Neji jumped over to stand beside the two kunoichi. "Let's make this quick," Shikamaru said. "Neji?"

"Of course." Neji's hands danced over Ren's still form, closing her tenketsu.

Shikamaru pulled out some rope and quickly bound the prisoner. "I don't suppose you'll tell us what's going on?"

"I don't think so," Ren replied. "You'll find out soon enough, anyway. It's just about midnight, isn't it?"

Shikamaru's eyes widened. Then, there was a series of loud explosions from the Hokage's office and the surrounding buildings. Mere seconds after that, another set of explosions sounded from the direction Saburo had fled in.

"Damn it," Sakura breathed.

Then there was a chorus of sounds that dwarfed those. "Those're from the gates," Shikamaru snarled. "What's going on?"

"It's more then just these four," Neji stated. He took one long look at Ren, then delivered a solid blow to the back of her head, knocking her unconscious. Shikamaru stumbled as he adjusted to the suddenly dead weight.

"What do we do?" Sakura asked Shikamaru.

"I'll take this one back to the academy," Shikamaru said. "Since that's where Hokage- sama is, it'll be the center of the defense. Neji, can you see Aoki?"

The Hyuuga shook his head. "Too far away now. He's made a break for the administrative centers."

"All right then. You two try and catch him before he meets up with his teammates, then." Shikamaru grimaced.

Neji stared at him with activated Byakugan for a moment. "This isn't your fault," he said.

"I know that," Shikamaru replied. He threw Ren's still body over one shoulder. "Now, move, you two!"

* * *

**Day Seventy-seven**

Tayuya of the Hidden Sound, not being deaf, quickly realized that something was wrong. While the acoustics of the Leaf ANBU's prisons had been artfully arranged so that the the sounds of the interrogation chambers could be heard in the cells, the builders had also ensured that the sound was nothing more than a low, disturbing, unintelligible murmur. It wouldn't do for the prisoners to be able to glean any information, after all.

Therefore, it was more than a little unusual when Tayuya heard a loud, clear scream. The ANBU guard who had been lounging outside her cell - probably undressing her with his eyes - stiffened, also aware of the oddity of the occurrence. When the scream was followed by the sound of metal striking metal, then an explosion, it stopped being merely odd. Cursing loudly, the guard drew a weapon of his own and charged off.

An instant after he passed out of eyesight, Tayuya heard a wet gurgle. The guard stumbled back into view, a kunai puncturing his armored breastplate and piercing his heart. Slowly, the ANBU collapsed. Tayuya rose from her cot, staring in disbelief at the slain guard. "What the fuck?" she muttered.

Two women emerged from the shadows, a Mist hunter ninja and a green-eyed Mist kunoichi dressed in black. "Damn Yakushi to hell," the hunter ninja muttered. "Where the fuck is he?"

The other woman glanced at Tayuya. "I don't suppose you'd tell us if a gray-haired Sound has passed by here?" Tayuya wasn't able to stop herself from reacting, and the woman's eyes narrowed. "You're Sound?"

"Yes, she is," Kabuto said, appearing suddenly before Tayuya could respond. "It's nice to see you again, Tayuya-chan."

"Kabuto-sama," Tayuya breathed, backing away rapidly. If there was one thing she knew, it was that Orochimaru didn't order rescue missions. "I swear I didn't tell them anything!"

"This wasn't in the plan, Yakushi," the hunter ninja snapped. "Why the hell did you split from us and head here?"

"Target of opportunity," Kabuto replied. "Orochimaru-sama has misplaced some prized possessions, and they ended up here." Almost casually, he slipped past the two Mist ninja and opened the cell door. "I'm not here to kill you, Tayuya-chan."

Tayuya still took a step backward. "I failed Orochimaru-sama," she said. "Why else would he send you here?"

Kabuto laughed lightly. "You didn't fail," he said. "Sasuke-kun made it to the Sound Village."

Tayuya's eyes widened. Of course, it made sense that the ANBU would lie about that, to help break her. "Even so," she said aloud.

"Orochimaru-sama still believes you have a use," Kabuto said, his voice suddenly harsh. "If you're so certain that you're a broken blade, then I will be happy to treat you as such and tell Orochimaru-sama he was wrong."

Tayuya paled. "No." She forced herself to take a step forward.

Kabuto smiled kindly, his hand reached forward and brushing Tayuya's hair back from her neck. Complying with the unspoken order, Tayuya turned aside so he could look at her seal. His tongue clicked. "Such crude debasement of Orochimaru-sama's genius. How troublesome."

"What's troublesome," the Mist hunter ninja snarled, "is your situation. Why shouldn't I kill you now?"

"Come now," Kabuto said. "This building is a valuable target, and it is filled with potential allies, no? Some of your own ninja, too, I imagine. Be creative."

The hunter ninja hissed wordlessly, but then she turned away. "Come on, Amaya-chan. Yakushi, do what you want; we're leaving. If you get bogged down fighting ANBU reinforcements and miss the rendezvous, it's your problem. Understood?"

"Of course," Kabuto said smoothly, and the Mist ninja vanished.

"Kabuto-sama," Tayuya said, "the ANBU said the Leaf had -"

"Ah, yes. I picked him up too, of course. You can come out now, Kidoumaru-kun."

The six-armed ninja carefully stepped out of the shadows, looking far worse than Tayuya felt. "Yo," he said weakly.

Tayuya stepped forward, and before she realized what she was doing she had embraced him, tears watering her eyes. "You fucker," she muttered as she released him.

"Nice to see you too," Kidoumaru replied.

"What about the others?" Tayuya said.

"Dead," Kabuto stated calmly. "You two are the last of the Sound Five."

"What now?" Kidoumaru asked him after a moment.

"Now?" Kabuto said. "Now we can start paying the Leaf back."

* * *

"I've got them." Neji's voice was grim, and he didn't pause as he switched directions, jumping to the building across the street. Sakura followed him, one hand checking her store of weapons. It was never fun reaching for a kunai or shuriken that wasn't there in the heat of battle. "You need any?" Neji asked, not turning his head to look at her.

"No," Sakura replied. "I'm good. Where are they?"

"Aoki's joined up with the other two," Neji replied. "It looks like they're heading for the ANBU headquarters." He paused. "Aoki's wounded."

"What?"

"Wound to the leg," the Hyuuga stated. "Midori is supporting him."

Sakura bit at her lip. "Two against three isn't good odds, even if one of the three is wounded," she replied, "but I don't like the idea of letting them do whatever they want there."

"ANBU can defend itself," Neji said, "and it would be one against three."

"One?" Sakura asked, then she grimaced. "Oh yeah." So long as Midori was in the fight, Neji's Bloodline Limit became a dangerous vulnerability. "Can't you fight without your Byakugan?"

"Not well enough," Neji replied after a moment, "particularly with a jounin on the other side. Under the circumstances, I'd just get your way."

"Damn it," Sakura snarled to herself. "I feel like we have to do something." She tried to think as she continued to follow Neji from rooftop to rooftop. She was supposed to be smart, wasn't she? All she needed was a plan.

Neji stiffened suddenly, almost missing the next jump. "Something's wrong at the ANBU building."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"We just got close enough for me to get a good look," Neji replied. "The guards outside are dead and someone broke down the doors."

"Can you see inside?" Sakura asked. Neji shook his head. "Any Leaf ninja in the area?"

"Not that I can see," the Hyuuga replied. "I think most are regrouping and supervising the evacuation." He paused. "They're splitting up."

"The Mist?" Sakura asked. "You're not serious." That was idiotic.

"Whatever's happening at the ANBU headquarters wasn't part of the plan," Neji explained calmly. "Mitarashi Kimi is investigating, but she wants her students out of the way."

"That's our chance then," Sakura declared.

"It'd still be one on two," Neji warned.

"Only until I can knock out Midori," Sakura replied, "and you said Saburo was wounded."

Neji nodded curtly. "Right," he said. "Let's go, then." He changed direction again.

After what seemed like seconds but had to be at least a minute or two, he separated from Sakura, leaving her alone to intercept the two Mist genin. Sakura grimaced to herself. Despite her words, she wasn't quite certain how she'd manage to defeat Midori. At least she should have the advantage of surprise. She paused two rooftops away from the alley Neji had pointed out as the Mist pair's hiding place. She was going to have to strike fast and hard if she wanted to pull this off. As much as she'd like to ask Midori a few questions, this wasn't the time.

Carefully, Sakura moved to a rooftop overlooking the alley, and, lying on her belly, peeked over the side. Saburo was seated against a wall, his eyes closed. Midori was watching the road, and her back was to Sakura. The pink-haired chuunin slowly inched a kunai out of its sheath. If she was lucky, she might be able to take her out with one strike. Sakura rose into a crouch, preparing her throw.

Saburo's eyes flickered open. "Midori!" he shouted in warning. As the Mist kunoichi whirled about, Sakura released her weapon, cursing freely. Midori parried the oncoming kunai with a hastily-drawn blade of her own. "You," she snarled as her eyes sought out Sakura's.

Sakura knew better than to meet her gaze. Instead, she formed a seal with one hand as she jumped from the rooftop. When the flames sprouted from her other hand, instead of attacking Midori she swept them toward the still-seated Saburo. His eyes widened in fear as he struggled to rise.

Midori dove into Sakura's path, pushing her teammate aside. Sakura's flames briefly caught her in the side, and the other Haruno fell heavily beside Saburo. Still, she rose before her wounded ally. "You bitch," Midori growled. "I'm going to kill you."

"You'll try," Sakura forced herself to return. Things were not looking good. She hadn't gotten Midori on the first strike, and now it was two against one, with Neji unable to help her. She was going to have to think quickly if she wanted to pull this off. She needed to counteract Midori's doujutsu. Fortunately, there was just enough moisture in the air for the obvious solution to work. Keeping her own eyes on Midori's feet, Sakura rapidly formed seals.

"Die!" Midori shouted, plunging at her with kunai in hand. The blade struck Sakura in the chest, and there was a moment of perfect stillness before the pink-haired girl was replaced by the wooden sign from a store at the mouth of the alley. Then coils of rapidly thickening gray mist filled the alley, and Midori cursed sharply.

Sakura grinned as she slipped into the mist. Now they were both fighting blind. She formed another set of seals, creating a perfect replication on the other side of where Midori had stood. "I'm willing to accept your surrender," she had the genjutsu offer. Then she listened for the sound of Midori's inevitable reaction.

Unfortunately, Midori didn't say anything, but she did something almost as revealing. She started to work on a water element technique, drawing water from the concealing mist. Sakura grinned. Since the mist was already charged with her chakra, she could feel Midori's efforts and use them to deduce the other girl's position. Her opponent had just made a terrible mistake.

Sakura reached for a kunai, then hesitated. Midori knew Mist Concealment Technique too, didn't she? She had to know that drawing on the water in the mist would alert Sakura. It had to be a trap, and Midori probably had the control to pull this kind of stunt off. Releasing the hilt of her kunai, Sakura quickly worked through various angles of attack. Where was Midori going be?

Less than a second later, the answer clear in her mind, Sakura created another genjutsu, and sent it just a hair too loudly at the position Midori's deliberate mistake pointed to. Sakura listened very carefully to gauge the right moment, then struck. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" Midori screamed as the flames struck her back, much more strongly then Sakura's first successful blow.

"Midori!" Saburo shouted, worry plain in his voice.

Sakura could hear the other girl's pained moan as she rose, and the pink-haired chuunin carefully drew a kunai. "Are you going to surrender now?" she asked, and then she advanced slowly while she waited for Midori's response

Instead, another voice answered, "I think that unlikely to occur." Sakura's mist vanished suddenly, as though it had never been, and two black-clad women jumped down into the alley between the suddenly revealed Sakura and her two foes. One wore a Mist hunter ninja mask, and the most of the other's face was covered with a cloth mask. Sakura noted the familiar shade of that woman's green eyes and quickly averted her gaze.

"So this is Haruno Sakura, is she?" the hunter ninja asked. Sakura swallowed. She didn't think it was good that a hunter ninja from a foreign village knew her name.

"Yes," Midori said. "She's the one."

The hunter ninja laughed cruelly. "What a nice little family reunion." She turned to Sakura. "You'll be coming with us." Sakura didn't bother to respond. There wasn't anything she could do to stop them, was there?

"Katon: Flame Sniper." All the ninja in the alley started at the new voice, but the hunter ninja managed to roll aside before a thin bolt of flame would have pierced her heart. Looming over them on a nearby rooftop was a purple-haired woman Sakura didn't recognize in a Leaf jounin uniform. Behind her were three genin, one of whom Sakura easily placed as Toriichi Kasumi, one of Ami's friends from the academy.

"It looks like I should join the party," Mitarashi Kimi commented as she appeared on the opposite rooftop. In an instant, the other Mist ninja were at her side - the two wounded genin helped by the older women. Sakura took a deep breath, then joined Kasumi's team herself.

"Thank you," she said as she landed beside them.

"Thank the Hyuuga for finding us. He's hanging back until we can take out those two," the jounin told her, pointing at Midori and the other Haruno.

It was five on five, Sakura noted, but the Mist had more jounin. Then again, two of the Mist were wounded. "What's the plan?" she asked.

Across the alleyway, Kimi laughed. "You all have bigger problems than us coming your way," she said. "I suggest we just go our separate ways." Her hands blurred, and all five Mist ninja erupted into pillars of thick, dark smoke.

"Damn it," the jounin said. "If they'd just waited a moment longer…" Four masked ANBU landed on the rooftop where the Mist had stood. One of them shook his head.

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. A moment later, Neji arrived beside her. "Thank you," she told him. Neji frowned, and looked like he was about to say something, but then the jounin spoke.

"Do you know what she was talking about, Hyuuga?" she asked.

"Yes, Uzuki-san," Neji replied after a moment. "Somebody's set free the prisoners from ANBU's interrogation center. They're headed this way." He paused. "Mitarashi Anko is leading a squad up behind them."

"All right." The jounin paused and gestured at the ANBU across the street. The four masked ninja joined the rest of them on their rooftop. "Do you mind if I take command?" she asked.

"No, Yuugao-sempai," one of the ANBU responded.

"Good." Yuugao glanced at Neji. "How many prisoners?"

"Forty-three," the Hyuuga answered after a moment. "They're moving as a group."

"Right." The purple-haired jounin bit at her lip in thought. "Can you and Haruno get around them before Mitarashi comes up on them?"

"Sakura-san?" Neji asked.

"I'm fine," Sakura replied.

"Then do it," Yuugao said. "Tell Mitarashi to wait for my signal. Understood?"

"Got it," Sakura said, and then she and Neji left.

* * *

Sakura tried to relax while she waited, but her half-hearted efforts were futile. How could she even hope to rest when she knew that in a matter of moments she would be heading back to battle? Neji, Sakura noted with some annoyance, seemed to have no such problem, leaning against one wall with his Byakugan relaxed for the first time in hours. Anko had cheerfully accepted Yuugao's warning not to attack until she signaled, and now they were waiting with the three-man chuunin squad Anko had commandeered.

"You okay, Sakura-chan?" Anko asked suddenly as she walked over to the two rookie chuunin, her voice terrifyingly cheerful.

Sakura gave her a disbelieving stare. "How can you be so happy?" she asked.

"Because you were nice enough to send Seseki to get me," Anko replied. "That means I wasn't around to get stuck with evacuation duty again." She grimaced. "I hate evacuation duty. It's all responsibility and no fun. Last time I didn't even get to kill anyone at all!" The three older chuunin began to mutter nervously among themselves.

"You can't possibly be serious," Sakura said.

Neji's eyes flickered open. "She isn't. She's teasing you to let off nervous energy."

Anko was suddenly standing in front of him. "You, Neji-kun, are reminding me of why I hate Hyuuga."

"Make it short," Neji said dryly, "or at least entertaining. I already had to sit through one of these this week."

Anko blinked, and then she laughed. "Are you sure you weren't adopted? I didn't know Hyuuga were genetically capable of making jokes."

"Who's joking?" Neji responded, and Anko laughed again.

"Have fun, kids," she said, and then she wandered off to speak with the other three ninja.

Neji glanced sideways at Sakura. "My belated condolences."

Sakura blinked. "What?"

"You've been alone with her, haven't you?" Neji smirked. "I'd rather be stuck alone with Gai-sensei."

Sakura laughed despite herself. "Thank you," she said.

After a moment, Neji frowned. "There's something I should probably -" He cut off, his Byakugan activating in an instant. "It's time." A bolt of white fire soared into the air from several blocks away, exploding high overhead into a ball of flame that briefly made the night day.

"All right!" Anko hollered. "Let's go! Don't let any of these bastards get away!"

The next several minutes were a blur to Sakura. The two teams under Uzuki Yuugao had pinned the escaped prisoners from the front, and they seemed completely unprepared for the rear attack. The prisoners tried to scatter, but with little success. Weak from months or more of imprisonment, their only strength was bulk of numbers, and they used it as best they could. Things got so confused that Sakura could have sworn that out of the corner of her eye she saw two prisoners fighting each other, but she had no time to look more closely.

Spotting a prisoner trying to make a break for it, Sakura sent a kunai flying at his leg. She hit, but the man managed to stumble out of sight behind a corner. Cursing, Sakura broke away from the battle to finish him off before he could hide. One hand was already forming the seal for the Claw of the Fire Dragon when she turned around the corner.

The man had been faster than she thought, vanishing into a warren of small streets. Unfortunately for him, the trail of blood he was leaving was going to lead her right to him, and Sakura set to following it cautiously. Despite her wariness, though, she was still surprised when she found the man dead, a kunai through his heart. Drawing a weapon of her own, Sakura began to back away.

Mitarashi Kimi appeared out of thin air, standing over the corpse. A few instants later, Sakura noticed Midori and Saburo on a rooftop above. "I forgot to ask you before," the jounin asked dryly, "where is Ren? We're running out of time here, so answer quickly."

Sakura forced herself to not say anything, knowing that nothing she could say could help. Instead, her hands blurred. "Katon: Fireball Technique," she breathed, turning her head upward and sending the burst of flame soaring into the air.

Kimi laughed. "Help won't get here in time for you, little girl." Blurring, she charged Sakura. Sakura flung out one arm, and snakes burst out from under her sleeve, flying at the Mist jounin. Flames danced in the older woman's hands, shaping themselves into short claws that neatly severed the snakes' heads. Kimi's charge barely slowed as the snakes dissolved into smoke. Even though Sakura raised her arms to guard herself, Kimi's spinning kick caught her in the chest, sending her flying into a wall.

Kimi drew one of her curved, short swords, and took a step toward Sakura. "You won't need all your parts to talk," she said, and the blade began to drop.

It was stopped by a kunai. "That's quite enough, sister," Anko said.

Kimi leapt away, landing against the opposite wall. "This will be fun." She sheathed her blade. "Shall we do it traditionally?"

"Hardly." Anko's hands formed seals around her kunai. "Shadow Replication Technique." In unison Anko and and the four clones she formed charged.

Kimi became a whirlwind of motion and flames, sending her attackers flying. All five vanished in puffs of smoke as Sakura struggled to stand. Kimi jumped into the air mere instants before Anko burst from the ground under her feet, fiery claws sprouting from both hands. The Mist jounin somehow turned about in midair, rebounding off a wall and plummeting to meet Anko with her own flaming talons. The lines of fire met in midair, pushing against each other like something physical.

Rebounding, Anko glued herself to a wall, casually flinging several dozen shuriken at her still-aerial foe. Kimi again twisted in midair, drawing both of her swords and expertly parrying every projectile. After forming a rapid sequence of seals, Anko brought one hand up to her mouth. "Katon: Fire Dragon Blast." A jet of flame poured out of her mouth at Kimi.

Anko's sister had finally landed, perching herself on the wall over Sakura. Without waiting to see how the Mist ninja defended herself, Sakura ran. She had no intention of getting caught in the middle of this fight. Before she could make it out of the alley, though, someone jumped down in front of her. Their eyes met.

"Haruno Ninpou: Gaze of Binding," Midori intoned, and Sakura was frozen. "You're not going anywhere, bitch." A kunai appeared in her hands.

Saburo appeared beside his teammate, wincing slightly as he put weight on his wounded leg. "Midori," he said warningly. "We're supposed to take her alive."

"Only if we have the chance," Midori said, her kunai inching closer to Sakura's throat. "Who's to say that we did?" Even so, her blade began to waver, even if it didn't retreat.

"Sakura-chan!" The pink-haired girl couldn't turn at Anko's terrified cry, so she couldn't see when Kimi took advantage of her sister's moment of inattention, but she certainly heard Anko's pained scream and the thud of her body hitting the ground.

"Mitarashi-sensei," Saburo breathed in relief. "Midori's about to -"

"I saw," Kimi interrupted. "What are you waiting for, Midori-chan? Do it." Her voice was serious. "I want Anko-chan to see her precious student die and know that she's helpless to stop it."

"Mitarashi-sensei!" Saburo protested, but he made no move to stop Midori as her weapon stopped shaking.

Behind Sakura, Anko began to cough wetly. "You have… no idea… what you're about to cost me, Kimi," she said, and Sakura could imagine her sometimes teacher struggling to rise. The Mist jounin laughed, but her laughter cut off as a vaguely familiar sensation began to creep down Sakura's spine.

"No," the pink-haired chuunin breathed as she placed it. Midori began to back away nervously, breaking eye contact and freeing Sakura. In an instant, Sakura found herself on the rooftop, cradled in Anko's arms. She swallowed nervously as she saw the black, flame- like markings crawling down the special jounin's limbs.

"Stay," Anko snarled as she roughly dropped Sakura. In a blur of motion, she returned to ground.

"What in the world," Kimi began, then she was slammed into a convenient wall. The wood shattered under the force, and Anko's hands grabbed her sister's neck.

Another Anko appeared beside the first. "Watch," she growled, and turned to face Kimi's students - and Sakura. The pink-haired couldn't do anything but stare at the inhuman, golden orbs that had replaced Anko's usual dark eyes. A terrible, bloody wound marred the special jounin's chest, but she showed no signs of being slowed in the slightest by it.

Neither Mist genin seemed able to move as Anko opened her mouth. Her tongue grew rapidly, snaring Midori by one arm and pulling her through the air at Anko. The special jounin caught the green-eyed genin, then retracted her tongue. Anko smiled, and Sakura caught a hint of pointed teeth. "I think I'll do better than killing your students, Kimi- neesama," Anko stated. "I think I'll mark them as my own."

"What?" Midori asked weakly as she struggled to free herself.

"There's a ten percent chance you'll survive the process," Anko said matter-of-factly. "If you do, a part of your soul will belong to me. Forever."

"Midori!" Saburo shouted, and his hands began to form seals.

A third Anko appeared in front of him, casually sweeping his legs out from under him and pinning him to the ground. "Wait your turn," the new Anko said chidingly as she knelt on his chest. The dark markings on each Anko's face seemed to move, slowly expanding to cover more of her skin.

Sakura realized she was shaking. Why couldn't she move? Whenever she tried, Anko's command to "Stay," sounded in her mind, and she lost focus. "Mitarashi-sensei," she managed to say. "Don't."

"Let them go," Kimi said. "I'm the one you want, aren't I?"

All three Anko laughed. "Not a chance," the one holding Kimi said. "You never struck me as the self-sacrificing type anyway, Kimi-neesama."

"Well, now," a new voice intruded. "What have we here?"

Sakura paled. "Kabuto-san."

The Sound ninja casually walked into the alley, and with a negligent flick of his hand hurled needles at each Anko. Two vanished in puff of smoke, leaving only the one holding Midori. As Kimi slumped to the ground, Anko tossed the green-eyed girl on top of her teacher. "Yakushi," she snarled dangerously.

"Don't waste your time threatening me," Kabuto said lightly. In a blur of motion, he vanished and reappeared behind Anko. His hands formed seals, then one reached out a tapped the special jounin on the shoulder. Anko was still for a moment, then reached up and laid her own hand on top of the traitor's. She began to laugh, and Kabuto's eyes widened.

"You fool," Anko said. "You've doomed yourself." The special jounin stumbled away from Kabuto, her face twisting in obvious pain. "You think… Orochimaru worried about safety in the prototype stage?" she managed to ask before falling to her knees. "You're… too naive." Dark energy began to gather around the kneeling woman, corrupt chakra boiling off of her and thickening until it became visible.

Kabuto backed away, reaching up to adjust his glasses, but he showed no other sign of nervousness. "Interesting," he allowed.

Anko stretched out one arm, and Sakura saw that her sometimes teacher's hand was almost completely covered by the dark markings. It bulged, as though something was crawling under the woman's skin, then burst open. A writhing mass of countless snakes poured out of the ruins of Anko's arm, twisting around to fly at Kabuto as they lengthened.

He didn't move, as though he expected the snakes to pass directly through him. "Genjutsu like this won't work on -" He stopped in mid-sentence, suddenly dancing out of the way and warding the snakes off with a kunai. "A genjutsu designed to make reality look like genjutsu. Clever."

Anko didn't respond, only standing as the snakes retracted to a more normal length. Sakura shuddered as she stared at the twisting swarm of snakes that had replaced the special jounin's arm. It had to just be some sort of transformation, right? Slowly, Anko turned to face Kabuto, the snakes winding closer and closer about each other until they seemed to merge into one multi-headed creature. The heads shrunk, turning into a hand and fingers, while the scaled body became an arm.

Anko grinned widely, flexing her once-more whole arm. "I wonder what you taste like," she said, before vomiting up another torrent of snakes. Kabuto seemed to be frozen, perhaps stunned by some doujutsu worked through Anko's inhuman eyes, and Sakura doubted that he would be able to dodge the attack.

She never got a chance to see if her guess was correct, as a wave of fire turned the snakes to ash. "That's enough, Anko-chan," another new voice said.

Anko slowly turned to face the newcomer. "Shizune-sempai," she said, a hint of horror in her voice, even as thick, ominous chakra continued to swirl around her.

Uzuki Yuugao suddenly appeared on the rooftop beside Sakura. Her hands formed a simple seal, then pressed on Sakura's side. "Release," she said, and Sakura found she could move again.

"Thank you," she gasped out.

Below, Shizune was slowly approaching Anko. "Don't make me hurt you, Anko-chan."

Anko's face twisted with rage. "Hurt me?" she snarled. Her tongue flicked out, and for a moment it looked forked. "I'll kill you first."

"That's what I was afraid of," Shizune said. She held out one hand. "Forgive me." Without visible cause, blood began to ooze from her palm. The crimson fluid poured out into the air, dancing around Shizune and Anko and forming strange characters. "Third-Level Emergency Field Sealing Method!" Shizune shouted. "Evil-Suppressing Procedure!"

The bloody characters glowed brightly, then Anko threw back her head and howled. Slowly, tortuously, the black markings of the cursed seal retreated and her disturbing aura dissipated. When the black markings had vanished, Anko stood still for just a moment, then collapsed, unconscious. Shizune staggered, almost collapsing herself.

Kabuto reached up to adjust his glasses. "Most impressive," he said, almost sounding shaken, "but that's to be expected from a student of one of the legendary Sannin." He paused, moving to where the three Mist ninja stood. "I suppose we will be taking our leave now."

"You're not going anywhere," Yuugao said loudly as ANBU filled the rooftops around the alley.

Shaking her head, Kimi stood. "What the hell was that?" she asked absently.

"If you want to know," Kabuto said, "come with me to Orochimaru-sama." Without waiting for an answer, he helped Saburo stand. "We've already missed the rendezvous."

"All right," Kimi said after a moment. Kabuto smiled, formed a rapid set of seals, and then all four enemy ninja melted into the earth.

In an instant, an ANBU was kneeling where they had stood, one hand on the ground. He shook his head. "They're gone. This Kabuto kid is as good as Kakashi-sempai said."

Shizune slowly walked over to Anko and picked up the younger woman's still form. "I'm taking her to Tsunade-sama," she said, and then she vanished with her burden.

"Let's move," an ANBU in a cat mask shouted. "This isn't over yet!"

"What's going on?" Sakura asked Yuugao.

"The evacuation has finished," the purple-haired woman stated. "That means it's time to counter-attack and teach these Mist the lesson the Sand learned last time." She studied Sakura for a moment. "You stick with me."

"But Mitarashi-sensei," Sakura began.

"You're a chuunin now, aren't you?" Yuugao asked. "Act like one. You can still fight, and the mission isn't finished."

After a moment, Sakura nodded. "I understand," she said. "I'm ready."

* * *

The counter-attack proved to be rather more uneventful than Sakura had expected. By the time the Leaf had finished evacuating the civilians and organizing to push the attackers back, the Mist and Sound were already withdrawing in good order. While the bulk of the Leaf forces proceeded to chase the retreating enemies into the forest, Sakura was among those selected to split into two-man squads and sweep the village for stragglers and wounded civilians.

Sakura found herself paired with the cat-masked ANBU who seemed to be in command of this half of the operation. She had debated for several moments whether this was a sign of respect or mistrust before deciding that there was no way to know and it was probably just coincidence, anyway. Like Yuugao had said, she was a chuunin now, and she should know better than to bother with such pointless thoughts in this situation.

Instead, she decided to wonder whether she was supposed to have noticed that the cat- masked ANBU was a Hyuuga. Perhaps it was just because she had been in a similar situation earlier in the night with Neji, but it was very obvious to her that the ANBU had been using the Byakugan to aid their search. Plus, she could feel him watching her even when he was looking the wrong way.

"I watched your match against Neji-kun," the ANBU said as they finished clearing a block.

Sakura glanced at the man. She couldn't tell anything of what he was thinking from his tone of voice. "I see," she said after a moment, figuring that was the safest thing to say.

"Do you think you could have won?" the ANBU asked. Without waiting for a response, he led the way to the next block, where Sakura proceeded to feel mostly useless as he swept the area with his Byakugan.

She spent the time trying to figure out what answer the ANBU wanted, before finally deciding that it was futile and that she should just answer truthfully. "Yes," she answered, "I think I could have won." Hopefully that wouldn't somehow offend the Hyuuga Clan's honor or something bizarre like that. After all, they hadn't gone after Naruto in any fashion, and he'd actually beaten Neji, right?

"How?" the man pressed gently, gesturing at Sakura to help him move a pile of rubble from on top of a body so that it could be retrieved later.

Sakura complied, and she did her best to hide her distaste as she next helped the ANBU move the Sound ninja's corpse out into the street where it was easily visible. "If I'd been a little faster, Neji-san wouldn't have been able to use the Replacement Technique," she said. "Or if I'd noticed him using it, he might not have been able to get the drop on me at the end."

"I see," the ANBU stated as began to walk further down the street. Sakura followed after him, and he spoke again. "Your opening moves were highly risky. A Gentle Fist user like Neji-kun could have probably have incapacitated or killed you if he'd really tried."

"I know that," Sakura responded without thinking, letting a little too much irritation into her voice. "Neji-san is stronger than me. I wasn't going to have any chance to win at all if I didn't take risks." She paused. "He didn't have any reason to want to hurt me, and even against Hinata in the last exams he gave her chances to back down. I didn't think he'd go for that sort of strike right at the beginning against me, particularly if he didn't think I was a threat. I did do my best to shield myself and guide his attacks away from the most dangerous spots, too."

The ANBU shook his head. "And I thought Morino and Mitarashi were completely crazy when they recommended you for ANBU recruitment."

Sakura paled. "Mitarashi-sensei said something about that," she said, "but I thought she was joking. Genin… or rookie chuunin don't go into ANBU."

"Not usually, no," the ANBU replied. "Under the current circumstances, we're recruiting earlier."

Sakura swallowed nervously. "I'm not…"

"No." Sakura thought she could feel the man smile behind his mask. "You're not ready. Not yet, at least." He shook his head again. "But Morino and Mitarashi weren't being moronic, either. Now I'm wondering what they were up to behind my back."

"Do… do they team up?" Sakura asked, horror sneaking into her voice. Anko could be bad enough, but imagining what she could do with the aid of the grim interrogator was truly terrifying.

"All the time," the ANBU griped. "If it wasn't classified, I would tell you how they got the old head of the interrogation squad to retire."

"Umm… ANBU-san," Sakura said after a moment. "Do you know about what Mitarashi- sensei… I mean, what happened to… whether she's…" Sakura trailed off.

"I heard what happened," the masked man said grimly. "She's with Hokage-sama and Shizune-sama now." Anger flared in his voice. "If we find this Mitarashi Kimi, I'm going to give her to Ibiki and tell him to have fun with that bitch for the rest of her natural life."

"She did it to protect me," Sakura said weakly. "I feel like -"

"It's not your fault," the ANBU said harshly. "A ninja cannot allow himself - or herself - to think that way."

"Right," Sakura said dubiously after a moment.

"Save your second-guessing for the debriefing," the ANBU advised. "Now is not the time."

"Right," Sakura repeated, a little more firmly.

Though he didn't turn to face the kunoichi, Sakura could feel the ANBU's scrutiny. "Good," he said after a long moment. "Let's get moving."

As they continued their search, Sakura was surprised by the extent of the devastation. The incursion had only lasted a handful of hours, unlike the day-long battle that had consumed the village six months ago. Despite this, all the progress that had been made in returning the village to a pristine state seemed to have been reversed in those handful of hours. When Sakura commented on this, the ANBU let out a bark of bitter laughter.

"The difference is that the Sand wanted to capture the village and prove their strength superior to ours," the man replied while directing Sakura to location of two more corpses - civilians this time, a man and a woman - buried in the ruins of what had most likely been their home. "They weren't interested in slaughtering people like these two or wrecking buildings. The destruction they caused was a side effect of the battle."

"The Mist though," Sakura began, a sinking feeling in her gut. She tugged weakly on a large piece of wood lying across the woman's body.

"They just wanted to cause as much destruction and death as possible before we could respond," the ANBU confirmed. With one hand, he pushed the wooden beam out of the way, letting Sakura pull the body out to the street. Numbly, she returned to help him with the man's corpse. "There was more than one reason why they were called the Bloody Mist, and some of them still hold true."

"What's going to happen now?" Sakura asked.

"War," the ANBU said flatly. "With the Mist and Sound certainly, and probably with the Rock alliance too, from what I've heard. The next Great War began today." He started to walk toward the next ruin, and Sakura trailed after him. "Hopefully the Cloud either won't join or will join in on our side."

The mere mention of the Cloud made Sakura feel worse, as it reminded her of Kakashi's predicament. The ANBU seemed to recognize this, and said no more, merely shaking his head as they passed the ruin, indicating that nothing of interest was contained within. When they reached the next damaged building, though, he stopped suddenly. "What is it?" Sakura asked.

"There are two survivors trapped in there." The ANBU's voice was worried, and Sakura almost missed the subtle gesture that meant in the Leaf's sign language that he was lying. "I want you to stay here and see if you can get in contact with them. I'm going to go find some others to help us clear the rubble without injuring them further. Understand?"

Aided by the almost unnoticeable signs he had been making with one hand, Sakura figured out what was really going on. The ANBU had spotted two Mist ninja following them, and he believed that she was the target. The oddity of that made her pause, but it was clear enough from the rest of the night's events that the Mist really were targeting her. The ANBU was going to split from Sakura to lure the enemy into striking, then ambush them from concealment.

"I understand," Sakura said after what she hoped was not too long a pause. She carefully made the corresponding gesture in sign language as well, so that the ANBU could be certain she'd caught the true meaning.

The man nodded once. "See you shortly," he said, and then he was gone. Sakura did her best to not actively look for the Mist as she walked toward the half-destroyed building where the survivors were supposed to be. "Can you hear me?" she yelled.

"Yes," the Mist hunter ninja who had interrupted Sakura's fight with Midori earlier in the night said as she appeared perched on top of a pile of rubble. A moment later, Sakura spotted the black-clad Haruno who had accompanied her, standing on top of the mostly undamaged building next door. An instant after that, the second Mist kunoichi was on the ground, standing next to her partner.

"What do you want from me?" Sakura asked, drawing a kunai and backing away carefully.

The hunter ninja laughed. "We want you, Haruno Sakura. Our medical ninja will see what damage Amaya-chan's little unauthorized breeding experiment did, and we'll use that data to make certain that there are fewer mistakes like Midori in the future." The hunter ninja paused, perhaps smiling behind her mask. "And then, maybe, once you've proved your loyalty we'll let you serve as a Mist ninja."

Sakura couldn't stop herself from laughing. "You're crazy if you think I'd ever do that."

"Then I suppose we will just have to kill you when we're done," the hunter ninja replied. "All the same to me, really."

Sakura took another step back. Where was the ANBU? "I'm not about to let you do that, damn it!" she shouted, hurling a kunai - not the one she had conspicuously drawn - at the hunter ninja.

The woman caught the blade between two of her fingers and stared at for a half-instant, looking at the high-powered explosive tag wrapped around the hilt. "Oh, by the way," she said, gesturing at the still silent Haruno. "She can read Leaf sign language." Almost simultaneously with the explosive tag's detonation, the hunter ninja dissolved into water. From not far away, there was a sudden scream - the ANBU.

Sakura barely managed to dodge out of the way of the Haruno woman's swift attack, the kunai she still held warding off the Mist kunoichi's own dagger. As she backpedaled, parrying her foe's rapid strikes while avoiding meeting her eyes, Sakura tried to gauge the woman's strength. She was quick, but nothing Sakura couldn't handle if she got a moment to take the offensive.

Obviously, the woman wasn't going to just provide that sort of opportunity out of generosity. Sakura let the woman's next strike catch her in the chest - or rather, she let it catch a conveniently-sized piece of half-burnt wood she'd used for the Replacement Technique. Her foe didn't seem terribly surprised, discarding her stuck weapon and drawing another kunai before Sakura could attack.

Sakura hurled shuriken to keep the Mist ninja busy as she landed on a nearby rooftop. She wasn't going to give the enemy a chance to recover. Even as the Mist kunoichi parried the shuriken, Sakura was diving at her, claws of flame extending from one hand. The Haruno woman danced backward, expertly sending her kunai flying at Sakura's heart. The weapon passed directly through the Leaf chuunin, and the older woman's eyes widened slightly as Sakura's genjutsu vanished.

Behind the Mist kunoichi, the real Sakura dropped into a spinning kick, sweeping the woman's legs out from underneath her. The woman managed to catch her fall, flipping back to a standing position facing Sakura, but this left her open for a handful of heartbeats. Knowing that she might have even less time before the hunter ninja returned, Sakura didn't hesitate to strike, her kunai slipping between her opponent's ribs.

The woman stiffened as the blade struck home, and then, inexplicably, she smiled behind her cloth mask. "You've become very strong, Sakura-chan," she said.

Sakura's eyes widened. "No way," she breathed.

"I don't know that you'll ever believe me," the woman continued, her voice weakening with every word, "but everything I did was for you, in my own way." She coughed wetly. "I'm sorry. Tell Inoichi -" She cut off in mid-sentence, stumbling backward and falling over on her back, and then she was still.

The ANBU suddenly appeared again, standing over the fallen woman. "I'm sorry I didn't get here earlier." His mask - or one broken half of it, rather - was in his hands rather than on his face now, revealing the silver eyes of the Byakugan. "That damn hunter ninja was a Haruno also." He smiled slightly. "It looks like you did better than me, though, Sakura-kun. Good work."

Sakura didn't respond, stumbling forward and kneeling down to peel the cloth mask back from the dead woman's suddenly familiar face. Tears fell from her eyes, and Sakura made no effort stop them. "Damn it," she hissed.

"Sakura-kun?" the ANBU asked, worry suddenly in his voice.

The pink-haired kunoichi didn't answer. "Mother!" she sobbed, and that was the last coherent thought she would have for some time.

* * *

Today had been a particularly boring day, Temari decided as she watched the sun set. In times of peace, border duty was rarely interesting, and being stuck guarding a border as desolate as the point where the Wind, Bird, and Rain Countries met was particularly non- eventful. Even if the terrain had been more easy to traverse, the Rain had been allies for generations, and the Bird Country had no ninja village. There was little to do here other than occasionally ruining some smugglers' days.

The only interesting event in her time here had been when that Leaf team had brought a Sand missing ninja who had been captured in the Bird Country. Temari smirked as she remembered how she had needled the girl she'd fought in the preliminaries. Now, that had been fun. It hadn't been fun enough to make up for the months of boredom, though. Maybe accepting the promotion to chuunin had been a mistake. If she'd taken the exam again, she'd be in the Leaf Village now. If she was lucky, she might have ruined that Tenten's chances a second time. That would have really been fun.

In any case, she was going to have to arrange for Gaara to have some psychotic episodes so that the village council would once again consider it unsafe to not have both of the dangerously unstable boy's siblings on hand to control him. Being with Gaara was unpleasant in many ways and even now carried far too high a chance of winding up dead, but at least it was never boring. Temari hated being bored. Silently, she prayed that something interesting would happen before she wound up committing suicide or something stupid like that.

"Temari-sama!" The Sand kunoichi started at the sudden shout. That was Tenma, one of the three genin under her command, and the one on watch now. Gesturing at the other two genin to stay put for the moment, in matter of seconds she had joined Tenma on top of the rocky hill where he stood. Tenma might have made a bad first impression on her thanks to his fearful descriptions of a Leaf kunoichi stronger than Gaara who had turned out to be that little pink-haired wimp on Uzumaki and Uchiha's team, but he wasn't the sort to call her for every bit of dust on the horizon.

"What is it?" she said harshly, squinting to try and make out what was hidden in this particular dust cloud. The genin wordlessly handed her his binoculars, and Temari peered through them. A single figure, most likely a ninja, was moving rapidly in an evasive pattern, clearly trying to evade pursuit. The blonde quickly began to search for his pursuers, finding a squad of three uniformed ninja following close behind. At this distance, she couldn't make out anything other than that the uniforms were gray, which in this part of the world meant Waterfall, Rain, or Sound.

It was unusual for any of those to be in the Bird Country, Temari knew. That tiny nation usually went to the Rock when its few native ninja weren't up to a mission, as the barrier of almost impassible mountains on their northern border provided insurance against becoming a vassal of the Earth Country. Even though they obviously gave missions to other villages - as evidenced by the Leaf two weeks ago - it was worth investigating. Giving the positions of the ninja another look, Temari judged that the pursuers would catch their prey only a few hundred yards from the Wind Country.

Handing the binoculars back to Tenma, Temari gestured for the other two genin to join them. "We're about to go on a little trip into the Bird Country," she announced.

"Temari-sama?" Tenma asked.

"There's about to be a little fight here, and I figure the Wind Country and the Hidden Sand will probably have an interest in who wins," Temari said. "I intend to make sure the right side wins."

"But how will we know which is the right side?" one of the other genin asked.

Temari grinned widely. "We'll figure it out as we go along," she said. "Now, let's get moving!"

A few minutes later, the Sand team was lying in wait along the fleeing ninja's path, and a few minutes after that he - or she, as it turned out - arrived not far from where Temari had predicted. She was wearing nondescript brown clothing, and though obviously a ninja from the large shuriken she carried on her back she had no forehead protector or other sign of allegiance visible. At Temari's signal, her team rose from concealment. Temari slowly began to open her fan, waiting to see the strange ninja's reaction to the appearance of Sand ninja.

The woman took a cautious step backward, wearily studying Temari's team. The Sand kunoichi judged that she was weighing their combat strength, an unfriendly if not outright hostile move. Temari opened her fan further, and in response the woman drew her massive shuriken. She quietly snarled, "Damn it."

Before anything else could happen, her pursuers arrived, now revealed to be ninja of the Hidden Rain. One, the leader most likely, stepped forward. "A little far north for Sand ninja, huh?"

Temari's eyes narrowed. "Have you got a problem with that?"

The Rain squad leader laughed. "Not at the moment."

"Care to explain?" Temari asked, gesturing slightly with her hand at the strange kunoichi, who seemed almost resigned to her fate.

The Rain ninja hesitated before answering. "She's a criminal, a missing ninja. The matter is classified and no concern of yours, but we thank you for your aid."

Sudden hope flared in the woman's eyes. "Lies!" Her free hand pulled out a Grass forehead protector. "I am Hatanaka Iru, special jounin of the Hidden Grass! By the terms of our alliance, I request emergency aid and entry into the Wind Country!"

"Is that so?" Temari asked skeptically, her eyes turning to the Rain squad. It was not unheard of for ninja of allied villages to come into conflict as a result of missions, but in that case the Grass ninja had no standing to request aid from the Sand, nor would the Rain have any reason to lie. Most likely, the kunoichi was lying to try and save her life. But, then, why did she not make her claim until the Rain had explained their purpose? Temari couldn't stop herself from frowning.

"Do not listen to her," the Rain's leader interjected. "She stole that forehead protector from Hatanaka Iru's corpse."

"Hear me out!" the woman demanded. "I'm -"

"Silence!" the Rain leader shouted, hurling a kunai at the woman's back.

Temari reacted half-instinctively, unfurling and swinging her fan in one smooth motion. "Cutting Whirlwind!" she shouted, directing the deadly gusts around the woman to snare the flying weapon and send it harmlessly to one side.

"Thank you," the other kunoichi gasped out.

"Why do you interfere?" the Rain's leader asked dangerously, drawing another blade. "Do the Sand shelter criminals now?"

"I've got too many questions to decide one way or another," Temari stated. "My squad will take this woman into custody until her identity can be determined. You are welcome to stay with us, and once your story checks out we will give her to you. Is that acceptable?"

The woman dropped her weapon. "I consent." Temari's eyes widened.

"That tears it," another Rain, not the apparent leader, growled. "Kill them all!"

In less than an instant, Temari's fan had swung again. "Great Cutting Whirlwind!" she screamed, sending razor-sharp blades of wind at the three Rain. With a second, subtle shake of her fan, she kicked up massive clouds of dust. "Now!" she shouted.

In a matter of moments, all the Sand ninja had surrounded the Grass woman. "Thank you," Iru said again.

"There's no time for that," Temari said, spreading her fan out on the rocky ground and kneeling on top of it. "Everyone aboard." The Grass kunoichi complied without hesitation, and Temari's squad scrambled on top of the fan a moment later. "Channel chakra to keep yourself on," Temari advised Iru before rapidly forming seals. "Fuuton: Swift Traveling Wind Technique."

A mighty wind lifted the fan, even with the weight piled on top of it. Only a few minutes later, Temari brought the group to a safe landing almost a quarter-mile into the Wind Country. Without waiting for orders, all her passengers stepped off the fan. Breathing heavily from the exertion, Temari got off herself, folding the fan back up and returning it to its place on her back. "Let's get moving," she said. "Those ninja, whoever they really are, could be following us."

"They really are Rain," Iru said grimly.

Temari straightened. "Explain," she snapped. "If you've dragged us into a legitimate fight over conflicting missions, I'll have your head."

"I wish that were the case." The Grass ninja took a deep breath, tying her forehead protector into place around her head. "Yesterday morning," she said flatly, "forces of the Hidden Rain and the Hidden Sound, acting in alliance, attacked and destroyed the Hidden Village of Grass."

"Gods," Temari wasn't able to stop herself from breathing. One of her team said something much more vulgar, and it took some effort for Temari to not follow suit. She forced herself to take a deep breath. "What do you want us to do, Iru-san?"

"I never did get your name," the older woman said.

"Temari of the Desert," the blonde answered.

"Well then, Temari-san," the Grass ninja said, "I would like to request escort to the Sand Village, where I will complete my mission."

"Your mission?" Temari asked, already knowing the answer.

"Now that I know you have no part in this treachery," Iru said, "I will request that the Hidden Sand honor our alliance and go to war with the Rain at once."

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings

1) You know how it used to be that every chapter was longer than the last? Well, it's nostalgia time, because this chapter is longer than Chapter 11, which in turn used to be the longest chapter in this story. I really have no idea how this happened.

2) My apologies for the delay in releasing this chapter. On the bright side, a substantial portion of the next chapter is already done!

2) I'm really kind of curious as to how many people suspected the identity of the Mist spymaster. Since I suspect the question of how Amaya could be the spymaster will come up, I'll answer it in advance. The piece of information that convinced Kabuto that the spy had to be in Tsunade's inner councils was that the Mist knew that Naruto was leaving the village in advance and sent warning to the Sound's agents lying in wait the night he actually departed. Amaya knew that Naruto was leaving soon through Sakura, and rereading the first scene of the prologue should make it clear how she learned of Naruto's departure on that night.

3) I also suspect that there will be some annoyance at the relative lack of Naruto in this chapter, particularly after last chapter. Mea culpa: I wanted to have more of his side of the story and him in particular this chapter, but as things turned out I couldn't advance his plot too much without making it come to a climax too soon. Even as is, it didn't look too lopsided in the outline, as I didn't anticipate the last two days being quite so long.

4) As ever, I do welcome any and all comments on this story. Thanks go to everyone who helped with the draft of this story.

5) Next time, in One Hundred Days Chapter 13, The Fire Burns: Jiraiya hunts for the Akatsuki member hidden in the Cloud Village, knowing that with every step he takes he comes closer to becoming the hunted instead. Naruto faces what might be his most difficult challenge yet: alone, against the strength of an entire village, he must find a way to save Kakashi. Back at home, Sakura must struggle to come to terms with what she has done as the Hidden Leaf readies itself for war…

Draft Started: July 13, 2006  
Draft Finished: August 10, 2006  
Draft Released: August 11, 2006  
Final Released: September 02, 2006


	14. Chapter 13: The Fire Burns

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 13: The Fire Burns

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, lemurs!

* * *

**Day Seventy-eight**

Most visitors to the Hidden Village of Sound were less than comfortable when brought into the catacombs underneath the rather unimposing above-ground structure. There was something wrong with them, a subtle strangeness that was not of this world. Kabuto knew that this was indeed the case, as the whole complex had been summoned by Orochimaru using an unique technique the legendary Sannin had developed. This had allowed Orochimaru to move the village easily when necessary, sometimes even within the borders of the Fire Country.

Of course, there was a larger, mock village near the northern coast of the Rice Field Country. It had served to host inspectors from the daimyo and visitors from the hidden villages of the Leaf's alliance while Orochimaru had been first establishing the Hidden Sound. It was a long time since it had served either purpose. The daimyo now knew well that it was he who served Orochimaru, rather than the other way around, and there was no longer a need to deceive the surrounding nations as to the nature of the Sound.

Usually, fresh recruits were still sent there to be trained, to have their strength evaluated and their loyalty tested. Kabuto was technically breaking several of Orochimaru's orders by bypassing that stage, but as the renegade Sannin's most trusted servant, he was confident that the leader of the Hidden Sound would approve of his actions. If not, he would be in a troublesome situation, but it was too late to worry about that.

"So this is the Sound Village?" Mitarashi Kimi asked, amusement in her voice. "You two must have felt right at home in the ANBU interrogation center." This was directed at the two rescued members of the once-feared Sound Five.

"Shut up, bitch," Tayuya growled, but Kidoumaru ignored the Mist jounin, and even Tayuya's response was half-hearted. Nobody except maybe Orochimaru was truly comfortable here.

"It's creepy," Aoki Saburo muttered. Kabuto had taken a moment to heal the male Mist genin's leg wound during their escape, but it hadn't eared him any trust. Saburo stuck close to his teacher, and amusingly was constantly trying to position himself where he could defend his teammate from sudden attack by the Sound.

Kabuto had healed Haruno Midori's wounds as well, but she too showed no signs of opening up to the medical ninja. It was a pity, but Kabuto hadn't expected her to. There was no need, anyway. Unlike her teacher, he could read her perfectly, and unlike her teammate, he knew how to make her accept what Orochimaru would offer. At least, what Orochimaru would offer if he approved of what Kabuto had done.

Kabuto halted as they reached a large chamber. Two gray-uniformed Sound guarded a large set of double doors on the other side of the room. "Please wait here," he told both the Mist ninja. "I will speak with Orochimaru-sama."

"Very well," Kimi answered shortly.

Kabuto gestured at Tayuya and Kidoumaru, ordering them to stay. Then, he walked forward, allowing the guards to open the doors to Orochimaru's throne room. He stepped through, and the doors shut silently behind him.

On his throne, the renegade Sannin smiled cruelly. "I'm surprised, Kabuto-kun."

Kabuto stepped forward, kneeling humbly before his master. "Pleasantly, I hope, Orochimaru-sama."

"You brought a few more guests than I was expecting," Orochimaru said. "You were sent to retrieve Tayuya-chan."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto paused. "It seemed a waste to not take Kidoumaru-kun while I was there."

"True," Orochimaru allowed. "I trust you will see to it that he makes good use of this second chance."

"Of course, Orochimaru-sama."

"What of the Mist?" The legendary Sannin smiled. "I've no use for them."

"I believe they do have a use," Kabuto replied. He paused. "In a fight with her sister, Mitarashi Anko released her Heaven Seal."

Orochimaru began to laugh. "Is that so? I'm disappointed in her. This Mitarashi Kimi should be dead."

"Kimi-san has shown an interest in the power that her sister displayed," Kabuto stated, and then he waited for Orochimaru to consider this.

"Interesting." The Sannin laughed again. "This could be amusing. You have done well." He paused. "What of her students? Why bring them?"

"Haruno Midori should be of interest to you as well," Kabuto explained.

"Why?"

"I have reason to suspect that she possesses a latent Bloodline Limit," Kabuto replied. "A doujutsu."

"So?" Orochimaru shifted in his throne.

"She as well will be interested in an offer of power," Kabuto said. "It might prove worthwhile to explore how her blood might mix with Sasuke-kun's, particularly if he and Tayuya-chan prove incompatible."

"You'd best ensure they don't," Orochimaru said. "I'll hold you responsible, since you're the one who thought to re-use her for this."

"I saw no purpose in wasting more kunoichi when Tayuya-chan had already survived acquiring her seal," Kabuto responded.

"I know," Orochimaru said, waving a hand. "I agreed." He frowned as he thought. "Your point is taken, Kabuto-kun. What of the boy?"

Kabuto shrugged. "It would have been harder to separate him from the other two than to take him with me."

Orochimaru laughed. "I see. Why don't you tell me what I need to know so I can speak with our guests, then?"

* * *

Morino Ibiki was not a happy man, and he decided to make that abundantly clear as he strode alone into the academy storage room, which had been hastily converted into an improvised interrogation chamber. Usually, his skills would not be wasted on a mere genin, but the Hokage wanted answers fast, and there wasn't precisely a surplus of sources for those at the moment.

From where she sat, tied securely to a small chair taken from one of the classrooms, Shimano Ren looked up at the interrogator. "You're the second examiner," she stated, surprisingly calmly for one in her situation.

"Yes." Ibiki stepped forward, judging what tactic would best work on the Mist kunoichi. "You got lucky. I'm worse on the first exam."

"Oh?"

Ibiki grinned. "I'm also the head of ANBU's torture and interrogation squad."

"I see." Ren bit at her lip, and Ibiki didn't say anything, giving her a chance to consider the matter. "I suppose they wouldn't send you to tell me I'm free to go," she said after almost fifteen seconds.

"That could be arranged," Ibiki offered. Ren stared at him dubiously, and he laughed. "You're just a genin, little girl. Letting you go free wouldn't harm us in the slightest." He didn't think it necessary to spell out that this would be more likely to happen if she cooperated fully.

Ren frowned. "Even so," she began, and then she stopped.

"You're smart," Ibiki said after a moment.

"You're hoping that I'd lead you directly to some sort of hidden base," Ren said. She shrugged her shoulders as much as her bindings allowed. "Sorry, Torturer-san. I don't know where any of those are or even if they exist."

Ibiki didn't smile. "That's likely."

"But not certain," Ren finished. "Right." She hesitated for a moment, then shrugged again. "I assume you have questions. Ask, and I'll answer if I can."

"Awfully helpful," Ibiki commented, putting just the right amount of disbelief in his voice.

"I'm just a genin," Ren said. "I'm sure you could break me, and I don't know anything worth getting tortured to try and keep safe."

"And you hope being helpful will put you in a position where you might escape or be released," Ibiki said, "or at least stay unharmed until the end of the war and any prisoner exchanges."

"I suppose you've seen people like me a lot," Ren replied.

"Yes." Ibiki did let himself grin. It was surprisingly common for lower-ranked ninja to convince themselves that they should cooperate with only gentle nudging from the interrogator. The widely held belief that anyone could be broken helped, even if it wasn't quite true. Sufficiently skilled torture and genjutsu could break anybody, but not always while leaving the mind intact enough that the desired information survived.

"So," Ren said after a moment, "what do you want to know?"

Ibiki answered her with a name. "Haruno Amaya." He paused. "And Haruno Sakura."

"Ah." Ren hesitated, clearly deciding how much to say, but Ibiki knew that she would determine it best to tell the whole truth. "Haruno Amaya has been the Mist's agent in the Leaf Village for over a decade," Ren said after a moment. "I understand she is Sakura-san's mother, but I don't know much more." She paused. "Her role in the operation was to secure the gates before the main attack."

"And Sakura?" Ibiki asked gently.

"You probably know more than I do," Ren responded. "We didn't even know she existed until we met at the Mitarashi Clan fortress. I thought at first she might be a Mist agent also, but she isn't."

"Uh-huh." Ibiki paused for a few moments before saying another name. "Yamanaka Inoichi."

Ren blinked. "He was the jounin who escorted us to the village, right? Same clan as the girl I fought in the third exam, I know." She was genuinely puzzled, Ibiki noted without surprise. "Why ask me about him?"

Ibiki shrugged. "Just checking," he said, and then he turned for the door.

"That's it?" Ren asked.

"For now." Ibiki smiled, even though she couldn't see. "I'm a busy man." He sighed as the door shut behind him.

"Ibiki-sama?" one of the chuunin on his squad, waiting for him, asked.

"Give her fifteen minutes or so to stew," Ibiki said. "She'll get depressed over agreeing to cooperate so easily, then she'll convince herself all over again that it's the only logical choice. Go in then, act like you're disappointed to not get to practice your skills, and ask her the usual questions."

"Right, Ibiki-sama." The man hesitated. "You're going to go see Anko-sama?"

"Yes," the special jounin answered grimly.

"I hope we catch her sister," the younger ninja growled.

"If we do," Ibiki said flatly, "she's mine." He thought that event unlikely, given that she'd been spotted leaving with that damn Kabuto kid.

"We wouldn't want it any other way, sir," the chuunin answered.

"Good," Ibiki stated and then he strode off. His destination was the room that had been designed for testing students' escape skills, and was thus the most secure room in the academy building, despite its several deliberate weaknesses. Two masked ANBU, not from the interrogation squad, stood guard at the entrance.

"No visitors," the one on the left stated, her voice flat.

"This is interrogation, not visitation," Ibiki answered, his eyes narrowing.

"On whose authority?"

"On mine." It was Shizune, appearing from around a corner who answered. "And Hokage-sama's."

"Thank you," Ibiki murmured to her. The last thing he wanted to do was waste time convincing the guards that he really did have authorization to see Anko. Things were so confused that he hadn't gotten any paperwork for it, which could have been troublesome.

"Understood, Shizune-sama," the male ANBU stated.

"Did you finish with Shimano-san?" Shizune asked.

"Yes." Ibiki grimaced. "Nothing terribly useful. She had no idea why I'd be interested in Yamanaka Inoichi and provided more confirmation that Haruno Sakura isn't a Mist agent."

"I'd think the way Amaya-san died would prove that," Shizune said.

"That makes it highly unlikely," Ibiki said. He frowned briefly. "I suspect that might have been deliberate on Amaya-san's part."

Shizune's eyes widened. "You're not suggesting that it was arranged to provide a cover -"

"No." Ibiki straightened. "It should have been done already, but it probably hasn't been given the situation. I want the Haruno residence gone over with a fine-toothed comb. There should be a suicide note."

"A suicide… oh." Shizune paled. "That's awful. How could she do that to Sakura-chan?"

"She probably thought she was doing her daughter a favor." Ibiki shook his head. "I shouldn't speculate more until I've seen the evidence."

"I'll get a Hyuuga on it," Shizune said. "Let me know when you're done with Anko-chan. Tsunade-sama wants my report also."

"Understood," Ibiki said, and then he gestured for the guards to let him in. They complied, then shut and locked the heavy door behind him.

"Hello, bastard," Anko offered weakly. She was hanging naked in the center of the room, secured by sturdy, rapidly installed chains.

"Hello, Anko," Ibiki said. He began to walk around her so that he could check the cursed seal on her back.

The kunoichi posed lewdly in her chains. "Like what you see?"

Ibiki didn't answer her as he stood behind his subordinate. Three concentric circles, each decorated by several arcane characters, surrounded the Heaven Seal. In theory, they would contain it almost perfectly if Anko tried to activate it. Unfortunately, the disruption they placed on Anko's chakra system would kill her in a week or so if they weren't removed. "I really am sorry about having to do this," he said as he laid a hand gently over the seals.

"Don't be," Anko said flatly. "I wrote the rules you're following, remember? Including the stuff about this exact situation."

"I know." Ibiki grimaced. "That makes this a little difficult, since you know exactly what I'm going to do."

Anko shrugged. "I told Shizune-sempai that she should rewrite the procedure based on her observations of the two we caught after the Uchiha mess. I don't think she had time yet, though."

"That's right," Ibiki said with a sigh. "And I don't have long before Hokage-sama puts me back on the Haruno mess."

Anko stiffened. "Haruno mess?"

"I shouldn't tell you anything yet." Ibiki's voice was flat, and his fingers pressed against the cursed seal's dark markings.

"Damn it, Ibiki!" Anko snarled. "You wouldn't just drop a mention like that if you didn't intend to tell me, so go ahead and do it, already!"

Ibiki let his hand drop. "Haruno Amaya was a Mist agent."

"What?" Anko's voice was shocked, and Ibiki almost couldn't hear her next quiet whisper, despite how close he stood. "Sakura-chan…"

"Haruno Sakura killed Haruno Amaya during the Mist's retreat from the village," Ibiki continued. "Despite this, questions have been raised as to her loyalty, and it is my duty to investigate them as well as determine the precise details of Haruno Amaya's treachery." He grimaced. "As distasteful as parts of that investigation might become."

Anko stiffened. "You aren't torturing Sakura-chan," she hissed.

"What do you think?" Ibiki asked flatly.

"You bastard," Anko snarled. "If you hurt her I'll -" The kunoichi cut off, taking a deep breath and clearly restraining herself.

Ibiki nodded in satisfaction as he studied the cursed seal, which hadn't shown even a hint of stirring. "That's one test passed," he said. "You can still keep the seal under control when angered."

Anko breathed a sigh of relief. "You bastard," she said good-naturedly. "You don't need to come up with scenarios that nasty to get me mad."

Ibiki gave her a sad glance. "Unfortunately, the scenario is real," he admitted.

"What?" Anko asked, her voice carefully controlled.

"Haruno Amaya really was a Mist spy, and Sakura did kill her." Ibiki hesitated. "While I do have to keep an open mind, Sakura isn't under any real suspicion right now." He let himself laugh slightly. "Hokage-sama would probably have the head of anyone who even suggested having her put under torture at this point."

"Good," Anko snarled.

"I really am sorry about this," Ibiki said, "but I need to test your reaction to pain next."

Anko took a deep breath. "Do it."

Before Ibiki could begin, the door burst open. "What's the meaning of this?" he asked the heavily breathing chuunin who entered.

The man took several deep breaths, absentmindedly fingering a bandaged wound on his side. "Ibiki-sama," he said once he'd finished catching his breath. "A squad just brought in a Mist hunter ninja identifying herself as Haruno Shizuru, and Hokage-sama wants you on her at once."

* * *

Naruto stared dubiously at the changes Kaida had made to the meditation chamber since their last session together. "What's all this?" he asked, gesturing at the intricate, crimson patterns of sigils and almost-recognizable characters that covered the floor, the walls, and even part of the flat ceiling. In the center of the room, surrounded by already lit candles, were two blank spots. The High Priestess was seated in one, and she gestured for Naruto to step into the other.

As Naruto hesitatingly complied, Kaida smiled. "This is what almost every fox within a day's travel of the Cloud Village died for," she said. "It would have worked better if we'd found one with multiple tails, but those are rare and harder to catch."

Kaida's words made Naruto notice the bloody stench, and he grimaced. How could he have missed it in the first place? "What's it for?" he asked.

"I've had you practicing meditation while I examined you," Kaida said after a moment. "Today we're going to put that practice and study to work." She smiled. "I'm sure you've been looking forward to actually doing something about your problem, right?"

"I guess," Naruto said dubiously. He still didn't see what precisely Kaida was planning to do, but he had already learned that asking too many questions would only lead to a lecture on patience, and Naruto didn't have enough of that to sit through another one.

"It's actually a little convenient that Junhime found out about you," Kaida commented as she slowly began to work her way through seals. "It would have been much harder to get enough fox blood if I'd needed to hide that I was looking for it."

"Oh," Naruto said. He gave the arcane patterns surrounding him another suspicious glance, wishing that he could understand them. Then again, he could guess how much study that would take, and he wanted none of that.

"Activate," Kaida said softly as she finished forming seals, then placed her hands in the center of two small circles on the floor in front of her. First the circles, and then the characters surrounding them began to glow with a harsh, red light. The glow slowly began to inch along the bloody patterns, slowly expanding from where Kaida's hands lay. "It will take a few minutes for this large a pattern to fully charge," she explained.

"Okay," Naruto said when it was clear that she was waiting for some kind of response.

"How is your training with Junhime going?" Kaida asked casually. Naruto wasn't able to stop himself from grimacing, and Kaida frowned. "Has she been giving you any trouble?"

"No," Naruto said flatly. She taunted him, of course, obviously trying to goad him into acting without thought, but that had been only part of why he'd grimaced. "I haven't been doing very well," he said after a moment. "I'm learning the basic techniques, but that's about it. It's hard."

"It's possible that you just don't have the talent for lightning element techniques," Kaida said. "It's rare for a ninja of your experience to be good at more than one or two elements that come naturally to them, and usually there's at least one element that they can't use in any real sense at first."

"Oh," Naruto said. "What should I do?"

"Practice," Kaida said. "There's no way around it. The more you use lightning element techniques, the more easily your chakra will take on the nature of lightning. The techniques will slowly start not only to take less chakra, which doesn't matter for you as much, but also to require less fine control, which does."

Naruto didn't say anything for a while, simply watching the encroaching glow make its slow way through the twists and turns of Kaida's pattern, surrounding him and slowly making a spiral in toward where he sat. "What about Kakashi-sensei?" he asked after some time.

"You have to have patience, Naruto-kun," Kaida answered him, letting out a long-suffering sigh. "It's not easy to do what I'm trying to do, and it's even harder since Junhime and her friends are blocking me at every turn. Sharingan Kakashi is a hated enemy of the Cloud Village who has been listed in the bingo book for years. His eye alone is priceless, and it's difficult to try and get Storm to release that sort of prize."

"I know that," Naruto said sourly. "I just want to know whether you have any news."

"Some," Kaida said after a moment. "I've managed to convince the Raikage to hold off on any attempt to transplant the Sharingan for now, and I've almost managed to secure some improvements in his treatment."

"That's not enough," Naruto grumbled. "I want him free."

Kaida sighed. "I know that, and I am doing what I can." She paused. "You aren't thinking of trying to rescue him, are you?"

Naruto hesitated. "I'm not going to do anything stupid," he answered. If he could find a way to free Kakashi, he would do it, but even he knew that just charging in would do more harm than good. He needed more information and a plan.

"Good," Kaida said after a moment. An instant after that, the glow had finished creeping along the entirety of the pattern, filling the room with an unearthly light. "It's time."

"What should I do?" Naruto asked.

Kaida didn't answer for a moment, but when she spoke her voice was firm and brooked no argument. "You have mentioned a… place inside of you where you can speak to the Kyuubi. You're going to go there again, on purpose this time."

Naruto almost bolted for the exit. "Are you crazy?" he asked. "The last time I was there I couldn't find the way out and I… that monster…" He trailed off.

"I see," Kaida murmured. "It seems you are more observant than Jiraiya-kun thought."

"I'm not stupid," Naruto stated. He paused, then risked adding an "Are you?"

"No," Kaida said tersely. "You need not fear. This," she continued, waving at the glowing pattern, "will allow me to aid you. Unless he has the strength to shatter your seal entirely, we will be in no danger from your guest."

"What if he does?" Naruto wanted to know.

Kaida smiled. "Then we are already dead," she said, almost cheerfully, "and it doesn't matter one way or the other."

Naruto still wasn't happy with Kaida's plan, but he forced himself to settle down. "What good will this do?"

"I wish to observe the seal from that perspective," Kaida said, "but more importantly I wish you to speak to the Kyuubi."

"Why?"

"It seems to me," Kaida answered, "that it would be useful to reach some sort of accommodation with the demon for the time being. Jiraiya-kun and I have the skill to make things difficult for him, though at substantial risk to you. He may be willing to make deals to stave off that fate, which would buy us the time to find a final solution to the problem he poses."

"All right," Naruto said dubiously. He didn't quite see why the Kyuubi would want to make any deals, but Kaida knew what she was doing, he hoped.

"I want you to meditate like I taught you," Kaida said, "and focus on your seal. The demon will most likely take care of the rest." Her hands formed a single seal and her eyes closed, and in response the crimson glow of the pattern began to brighten.

After half an instant, Naruto closed his own eyes. A timeless interval passed, perhaps only minutes or perhaps hours, and then he was standing in shallow, foul water, and on either side of him were the molding, dark walls he remembered. He could feel the demon fox's humid breath on his face, sense the monster's anticipation.

"Kaida-sensei?" he whispered, but the High Priestess did not - or could not - answer him. Taking a deep breath to center himself, he began to slowly walk forward, knowing that all too soon he would reach his destination. The faded sunlight that trickled into these halls from someplace far overhead seemed somehow both fainter and harsher than before, and Naruto's face was covered in sweat when the hall opened out into the massive chamber that held the Kyuubi.

The crimson eyes of the fox hung overhead behind the gigantic gate, but the demon did not speak as Naruto approached. The water immediately before the bars of the prison almost seemed to flare crimson for a moment, but if so the Kyuubi quickly retracted his power. Naruto stopped a good dozen paces from the gate, and he could not make himself go any further or utter even a single word.

After almost a minute, the Kyuubi began to laugh softly, and even that small a sound made the water ripple and almost forced Naruto back. "Why do you come to me?" the demon asked. It's voice was so deep it hurt to listen to, and it was filled with amused malevolence.

Naruto wondered again what Kaida was thinking. Even if the Kyuubi did make a deal, how could it be trusted to keep its word? He could feel evil boiling off the monster like it was something physical. Such a creature would have interest in deals only to gain some advantage. Naruto opened his mouth, but his voice did not answer his commands, and he was silent.

The Kyuubi laughed again, louder this time. "Perhaps you have come to swear yourself to me, to offer me your fealty and worship in hope that I will not consume your soul?"

Naruto swallowed. "Never," he managed to say, but his defiance sounded weak and pitiful even in his own ears.

"Do you wish to challenge my strength, then?" the demon proposed. His gargantuan face pressed against the bars. "Merely step inside, brat." Unthinkingly, Naruto took a step back, and the Kyuubi's mouth opened into a fanged grin. "You know, brat, that I did not lie. The only way out is through."

Naruto backed away again, unable to find any words. The sense of the Kyuubi's presence was overpowering, clouding his mind and stirring primal fears. He could hardly think, much less bargain in this state. What was he supposed to do?

"You try my patience," the Kyuubi snarled, "and I am not a creature of patience." Its massive claws pressed between the bars of the gates, red chakra glowing brightly around them. Naruto stumbled backward, but more scarlet chakra seeped out from under the gate, boiling out of the water in massive clouds. From far overhead a massive drop of blood fell into the water, and the chakra began to solidify. Naruto froze, and could only watch as a half-formed paw swung at his face.

Then his body swelled upward. The familiar orange jumpsuit he was wearing became the robes of the High Priestess, and Naruto's mind filled with strange, alien sensations. One of his arms raised, and the chakra claw was batted away, breaking apart and dissolving. Without his command, Naruto's lips moved, and Kaida's voice said calmly, "Begone."

In an instant, the storm of blood and crimson chakra was gone, retracted behind the gate. "Interesting," the Kyuubi said, "but foolish."

"Oh?" Against his will, Naruto found himself stepping forward, and he caught Kaida's reflection in the murky water. Realization came to him, and he calmed slightly. Kaida was taking control. "I do not consider myself a fool, demon."

The Kyuubi chuckled. "What do you plan, then? For what purpose did you convince the brat to come here?"

"So that I could see this." Kaida gestured at the massive gate.

"Then you are a fool." Red chakra began to fill the space behind the bars of the gate, a sensation of terrible might pouring from the demon. If he had control of his body, Naruto would have shivered, but Kaida remained unmoved.

"I am not alone," Kaida said, and power filled her, an aura of bright light countering the infernal crimson of the Kyuubi's chakra. It felt both like and unlike the times Naruto had released the Kyuubi's rage, and there was no doubt in Naruto's mind that Kaida was in complete control of this strength.

The Kyuubi only laughed. "You threaten me with a fragment of that pathetic creature?" Its eyes glowed with amusement. "I have defeated such before."

"I know," Kaida said calmly, "but then you were not bound and chained." Her body swelled again, and Naruto was bombarded by even stranger feelings. He couldn't make sense of what his body was telling him, but he could feel some part of his alien body reaching out and shaking the bars of the gate. The Kyuubi backed away, even though Naruto sensed no real fear. "I will be leaving now, and the boy is coming with me."

Everything went white, and then Naruto was back in the real world, sitting and facing Kaida. The crimson pattern covering the floor and walls glowed brightly for just an instant, then went dark. "What," Naruto began, but he faltered.

"That was interesting," Kaida said. She stood. "I know you don't understand what purpose that served, but rest assured that our little adventure aided me greatly, even though the demon proved unhelpful." She paused. "You will be training with Junhime tomorrow. I will send for you when I have finished thinking on what I learned today."

* * *

**Day Seventy-nine**

Jiraiya let out a quiet sigh as he watched the patrol patterns around the prison grounds. It wasn't that he was anticipating a challenge getting in; the guards were Cloud genin, hired by the local daimyo. It was that he had to do it at all. It was so painfully stupid, that Sotaru had done such a good job of escaping from the destruction of the House of the Falling Plum, only to get picked up by town guardsmen for petty robbery.

That had been difficult enough to find out, but fortunately the guards in the town where Jiraiya's agent had been captured kept good records, and Jiraiya had found a full report even though the incident had occurred almost two years ago. Otherwise, the trail he'd been able to pick up from genjutsu-aided interrogation of the bartender Sotaru had left his message with would have ended there.

He hoped that Sotaru still lived, but he doubted that. If he could follow the brothel owner's trail, so could Akatsuki, and with the aid of their member hidden in the Cloud, it would be trivially easy for them to ensure Sotaru's death. His more realistic hope was that some clue to the identity of that member had been left behind. If it had been, he meant to find it.

A few moments' work cloaked the legendary Sannin in a genjutsu, and he walked past the genin guarding the prison as if they weren't even there. They were young enough that they likely had a jounin teacher on hand, though, and Jiraiya kept a careful eye out for him or her. Even he would be in bad shape if a jounin managed to take him by surprise. He was still human, after all, and one lucky blow was all it would take to kill him.

Jiraiya swiftly scaled the walls of the prison, dropping down into the small courtyard the prisoners used for exercise during the day. Now, shortly after midnight, it was empty, and Jiraiya paused to study the layout of the building from this new vantage point. It seemed to be of fairly standard construction. The windowless side of the building was likely where the prisoners were held. That was where he would need to head first.

The door was locked, of course, but that was trivial for Jiraiya to defeat. There were only a couple dozen prisoners, almost all asleep, being kept there, and it took Jiraiya only a handful of minutes to confirm that his agent was not among them. That wouldn't have been much of a surprise even under more ordinary circumstances; in most of the Lightning Country the laws did not tend to favor long incarcerations. However, somewhere in the prison should be a record of all the prisoners that had been kept there and their ultimate fates. If there wasn't one, that would also tell Jiraiya something.

First though, he had to find that record room. It wouldn't be here, by the prisoners. Rather than retrace his steps to the courtyard, he slipped passed the lightly dozing non-ninja guardsman who sat in the room separating the cells from the rest of the prison building. His hands formed seals, and he created a couple of shadow clones to help him search the building. The three Jiraiya then parted ways, all still using a concealment genjutsu.

It was actually the real Jiraiya who found the records room, and he dismissed his replications before casually picking the lock and letting himself in. The room was dark and poorly kept, the numerous record scrolls on the shelves lining the tiny room haphazardly sorted at best. Fortunately, they were labeled, and as Jiraiya had suspected the records were kept by the date of the prisoners' arrival at the prison. The information he already had helped him narrow down when Sotaru had arrived, so Jiraiya was soon enough reading the short record of the brothel owner's time here.

He cursed when he finished, dropping the scroll. It took all his willpower to start cleaning up after himself rather than leave immediately. He needed to talk to Kaida as soon as possible. He didn't like the idea of letting her know that he'd had his own network in this country, but it would have to be done. She needed to know about this, and he would need her help to take down the Akatsuki in the Cloud.

"So what have we here?" a uniformed Cloud ninja said as he appeared in the door, a short sword pointed at Jiraiya's guts. "Don't make any funny moves," he added unnecessarily.

Jiraiya let another curse escape his lips. He'd been stupid and let down his guard. "I'm not an enemy of the Cloud," he offered. "I don't want to fight you."

"Even if I believed you," the jounin said, his voice making clear just how far Jiraiya was from being believable, "I'm on a mission here."

"True," the legendary Sannin agreed. "I'm going to raise my arms."

"Go ahead," the Cloud ninja said, gesturing with his weapon and bringing it just a hair too close to Jiraiya's hands.

An instant later, it was Jiraiya who held the sword, and it was at the Cloud's throat. "You're lucky I was telling the truth," Jiraiya said before knocking the man unconscious. Unfortunately, a jounin would have enough defenses against mental attack that Jiraiya couldn't afford the time to implant false memories. He was just going to have to live with the results of his sloppiness.

A few minutes later, Jiraiya cursed again as he sped through the night away from the prison and toward the Cloud Village. He couldn't get the final lines of Sotaru's short entry out of his mind. "Priestess Sinobi Junhime, jounin of the Hidden Cloud, arrived to inspect the prisoner as requested. She confirmed him as the fugitive Sotaru wanted by the Temple, interrogated him in private, and executed him. Lacking next of kin, remains were cremated per standard procedure."

* * *

Sinobi Junhime grinned widely. "You've been waiting for this, haven't you?" Naruto's unwilling teacher asked her student as she carefully spun in place, observing the circle of shadow clones that surrounded her.

One Naruto cracked his knuckles. "I'm going to enjoy this," another said. Both sprouted kunai from their foreheads, then vanished in puffs of smoke.

"I'm not that stupid," another Naruto said, and even as Junhime's inevitable attack disrupted that clone, the remaining Naruto charged Kaida's apprentice in unison.

"Uz-" one shouted as he slipped under the woman, kicking upward. Junhime managed to slice that Naruto with a kunai as he hit her, disrupting the replication.

Even as that clone's smoke began to fade, another Naruto was underneath Junhime, kicking her further into air calling out "-zu-"

"-maki," came another clone's voice as it came it for its attack. There was a brief blurring, and instead of Junhime it was another Naruto who received the attack. This Naruto didn't vanish, and the clones milled around in confusion for a few moments before disappearing in a series of smoke explosions.

"I guess I got lucky to pick the real one," Junhime said with a smile as she rose from her kneeling position in the corner of the Temple of the Thunder Dragon's small training ground. "You didn't even get a chance to try any lightning element techniques." She began to walk toward the fallen Naruto. "Get up."

The visible Naruto vanished in another puff of smoke, and Junhime's eyes widened slightly as the real Naruto erupted from the ground underneath her, chakra whirling in one hand. She danced away from the strike, grabbing Naruto's forearm and wrenching it behind his back as the globe of chakra dissipated. "I don't know what it is, but that looks like a pretty serious technique to be pulling out for a training session."

Naruto growled at her. "You're supposed to be a jounin, aren't you?" he asked. Then three more Naruto burst out of the ground around Kaida's apprentice, forcing the kunoichi to release the real Naruto to dodge their attacks. She rapidly disrupted the replications before returning her attention to her opponent.

"I suppose so," Junhime said, laughing lightly. "Maybe I should take this a little more seriously. Do actually use what I'm trying to teach you, though." Her hands blurred, and then she flung them forward. "Raiton: Lightning Wave!" A wall of electricity appeared with a crack of thunder, flying forward toward Naruto.

In the mere instants he had to react, Naruto sank into the earth once more. Junhime merely waited for his next attack, and when the genin reemerged two massive stone hands surged out the ground, grasping at the kunoichi. The woman danced backward, hands forming seals rapidly. "Raiton: Twin Thunderbolt Technique!" Two bolts of lightning descended from the clear sky, shattering the earthen hands. She paused as the wreckage slowly melted back into the ground. "You're still not even trying lightning element techniques," she said.

Naruto grimaced at her. "Shut up," he snarled.

"I'm not going to let you touch me with any of your other techniques," the jounin continued. "The whole point of this exercise is for you to try the techniques you're supposed to be learning."

"You know I'm not very good with the lightning junk," Naruto returned. "How am I supposed to hit you with those?"

"This isn't a real fight, boy," Junhime stated, "as much as we both might wish otherwise. Hitting me isn't the real objective." She sighed. "Getting you to at least be able use a single lightning element technique in battle is."

"Is that so?" Naruto asked, his eyes narrowing.

Junhime reacted moments before the real Naruto made his attack, sending a kunai to disrupt the clone she'd been talking to and jumping into the air almost too late, as Naruto erupted from the ground beneath her, ball of chakra whirling in one hand. "Raiton: Lightning Slice!" Junhime called out, and for an instant a blade of electricity sprung from one hand, curving down to meet Naruto's technique.

They pushed against each other, then erupted into a brief storm of chakra that flung both ninja away. Naruto stumbled slightly as he landed, but he kept his feet. Junhime's landing was perfect, but another Naruto was already emerging from the earth behind her, his hands forming a quick series of seals. "Raiton: Shocking Grasp Technique!" he shouted, and electricity sparked from his hands. Now, Junhime stumbled.

The Naruto standing behind her vanished in a puff of smoke. The real Naruto grinned. "There. I used a lightning element technique in battle."

Junhime grimaced, but then she laughed. "Clever," she admitted, "and that was much more lightning-natured chakra than you'd been able to handle before." She shook her head. "Hatake was right; you really do learn best under pressure."

Naruto froze, his grin fading. "What about Kakashi-sensei?" he demanded.

"Oh, I asked him for some tips for dealing with you." Junhime smiled brightly. "Sharingan Kakashi tells me anything I want to know now."

"What did you do to Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked dangerously.

Junhime's reply was flat. "What do you think, brat?"

The Leaf ninja almost turned purple with rage. "I told you," he began.

"Yes, I know," Junhime said. "You'll make me pay. You have noticed that's what I want you to do, right?"

"You," Naruto snarled, but with obvious effort he managed to calm himself.

Junhime applauded. "Very good," she said. "I'm impressed. Not a sign of the Kyuubi." Naruto just glared at her, and she sighed. "That's enough for today, I think. Unless Kaida-sama wants you, it'll be the same time tomorrow." Without waiting for the boy to respond, she turned around and left the training ground.

"Well, that was entertaining." As he spoke, Kiyomura Zeshin detached himself from the shadows lining the narrow hallway Junhime was walking down.

The High Priestess's apprentice snorted, not slowing her pace. "I told you not to come here, Zeshin."

"Forgive me, Junhime-sama," the former Storm agent said, his voice perfectly repentant. Junhime snorted again, and the man smiled before continuing. "However, the matter is urgent, and Kaida-sama is out, is she not?"

"Urgent?" Junhime stopped. "How urgent?" Without pausing, she continued. "Don't answer that yet. Follow me." A few moments later, they were in a meditation chamber and Junhime had activated a genjutsu to ward against eavesdroppers.

"Elaborate," Zeshin commented.

"I can't afford some acolyte bringing word of this meeting to Kaida-sama," Junhime replied. "You did make sure no one saw you enter?"

"Well, they did, but I didn't look like myself. I was just another worshiper, nothing to take note of."

"Good," Junhime said shortly. "Now, what's this about?"

"This is a report that just arrived in the village," Zeshin said, handing her a scroll.

The priestess unrolled it and began to curse fluently as she read. "This happened last night?" she asked as she finished. "Who knows?"

"I've made certain it won't become public," Zeshin replied. "Kaida-sama will hear nothing, at least until Jiraiya returns."

"This is the last thing we need," Junhime said. "The Toad Hermit knows now, for sure."

"You were sloppy back then," Zeshin chided.

"Yes," Junhime said shortly. "Damn it. We can't let him reach Kaida-sama now. We're going to have to go ahead and remove his piece from the board."

"I figured as much." Zeshin grimaced. "That's not going to be easy."

"No." Junhime's eyes were hard. "It's going to have to be me. Can you -"

"Already taken care of." Zeshin pulled out a handful of scrolls. "Straight from the Raikage's desk, top secret emergency mission orders for you and four ninja of your choice."

"Excellent," Junhime breathed, accepting the offered scrolls. "I can't take you with me."

"Someone needs to manage the Kyuubi," Zeshin agreed. "I'm honored by your trust."

"Everything is proceeding as planned on that front. You can go ahead and commence the operation as soon as you're ready."

"Leave me a few of our men in Storm," Zeshin requested. "It'll make things easier."

"I'll need some of them," Junhime said. "Even I'm going to need strong backup if I'm going to kill one of the legendary Sannin."

* * *

**Day Eighty**

Sakura would have ignored the loud knocking on the door to Naruto's apartment if she had been coherent enough to notice it. She couldn't say what day it was. She couldn't say what she had been doing. She couldn't say when the last time she had eaten something was, or indeed even the last time she had done anything other than lie in bed. All she could say was that her mother was dead and that she was the one who had killed her. Her whole world had shrunk to that bare fact.

The knocking paused, then resumed again, louder. A male voice shouted words that were meaningless to Sakura. The pink-haired girl buried her face in her tear-dampened pillow, instinctively trying to block the intruding sound that relentlessly prodded her to awareness. "Go 'way," she found herself mumbling quietly as the knocking increased in volume once more, accompanied by more meaningless words.

There was another pause, and then the man outside spoke again. This time, Sakura was unwillingly coherent enough that she could understand what he was saying. "Haruno Sakura, this is your last warning! I am authorized by the Hokage to force entry if you do not respond at once." Sakura raised her head slowly, blinking rapidly as she tried to gather herself. The man began to count down. "Five. Four. Thre-"

"Coming!" Sakura managed to shout hoarsely as she somehow rolled to her feet and stumbled out of Naruto's spare room. Pausing briefly to rub at her suddenly pounding head, she made her way down to hallway and through the kitchen. Her fumbling fingers undid the latch on the door and after a moment longer wrestling with the doorknob, she opened it.

She found herself staring at the vaguely familiar face of a gray-uniformed chuunin. "I am ordered to escort you to Hokage-sama," he said, not unkindly. "You have five -" The man cut off suddenly, his eyes giving Sakura a quick inspection. "You have twenty minutes to prepare yourself," he finished firmly.

Sakura just stared blankly at him, somehow unable to make the connection between his simple words and herself. "I," she said, but she wasn't able to say anything else, and didn't know why she had started to speak at all.

"You might want to get dressed at least," the older chuunin said gently, and even in her current state Sakura flushed as she realized she was wearing nothing but an over-sized t-shirt. "I'll be back in a half-hour," the man said, and then he was gone.

Without conscious thought, Sakura closed the door and walked back to the hallway. She passed the open door to her room and entered the bathroom instead. She stared in dull horror at her reflection in the mirror, then something approximating her usual morning routine took over. When she emerged from the bathroom, she was feeling much closer to human, though she still shied away from thinking too hard. Thinking would just bring her back to… something she couldn't think about.

She wasted time breaking into tears even at that non-thought, but eventually she made her way back to the bedroom and began to dress. She actually didn't have a full formal uniform; a vague memory told her that she had been supposed to pick some up the morning after the promotion ceremony. She made do with what she had, though her mind bizarrely fixated on the choice between a red shirt that had long sleeves or a shirt that was close to the right color but was short-sleeved. Deciding that it had been fairly warm for the season, Sakura slipped on the dark blue shirt, then black pants.

When her hands unthinkingly grasped her uniform armored vest, she froze. Her mother had given this to her. Her mother who she had… her mother who had been… her mother. Sakura shook, unable to avoid the terrible fact. Her mother was dead, and she was the one who had killed her. Killed her because she was a traitor. Or was it Sakura who was somehow the traitor? She couldn't think clearly, only remember the masked smile on her mother's face as she'd complimented Sakura's strength.

"Why?" Sakura wanted to shout, but couldn't find the voice. Why had her mother betrayed the village? Why had she given Sakura her father's vest? Why had she smiled when Sakura had killed her? Why? "Damn it, Mother," Sakura hissed as she fell to her knees, cradling her mother's last gift in her hands as tears began to stream down her face. "Damn it."

Eventually, there was a gentle knocking on the apartment door, and Sakura stood, putting on the vest. Her mind blank, she went outside. "I'm ready," she said flatly.

"Here," the chuunin said, thrusting a steaming cup of tea into Sakura's hands.

"Thank you," Sakura said automatically before taking a sip. She almost gagged at the unexpected sweetness, but she forced herself to keep drinking. She might not usually put sweeten her tea, but she probably needed the sugar.

"Let's go," the gray-uniformed man said after a moment. Sakura nodded and began to head for the stairs, only to stop as she noticed that the man was looking at her oddly. She followed his gaze to her forearm, and realized that there was nothing covering the snake tattoo that circled around it.

After a long moment, the older chuunin pulled the cloth bandage he wore for some reason across his face off. "Let me," he said, and without waiting for any confirmation he wrapped it over Sakura's tattoo. There was just enough to cover the dark markings, and he grunted as he made the final adjustments. "There. You don't want to show that sort of thing off, but you can pull the bandage away easily enough if you have to."

Sakura nodded slowly. "Thank you," she stated quietly, and without further words the pair of ninja went down the stairs and out into the street. The man lead her not to the Hokage's office as Sakura had unthinkingly started heading at first, but to the ninja academy. Unusually, masked ANBU stood guard outside it and there was not a child to be seen.

"This way," Sakura's escort said as one of the ANBU guards opened to academy door for them. He took her to what had been the school headmaster's office, but now was obviously serving as Tsunade's base of operations. As they reached the office, Sakura realized that her cup of now-lukewarm tea was almost empty, so she drained it and deposited it in a conveniently placed trashcan as she entered.

"You're late, Kotetsu-kun," Tsunade said irritably, looking incredibly out of place behind the headmaster's desk. The chuunin who had escorted Sakura gave her a glance, then stepped forward and whispered something to Tsunade, who frowned and nodded.

"Hello, Sakura." The pink-haired girl started at the voice, noticing for the first time that Shikamaru was standing in a corner of the room facing the desk, looking rather annoyed.

"Hello," Sakura managed to return weakly.

Her classmate's eyes narrowed. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm," Sakura began, but she faltered. How could she possibly explain what was going on? How could she find the words?

Before she could even start to search out the answers to those questions, Tsunade finished her quiet conversation with the chuunin and spoke more loudly. "All right, then, Kotetsu-kun. I've already let Izumo-kun go, so I'll be quick. Like I discussed earlier, you're being reassigned to a newly formed combat squad under Sarutobi Asuma. Your teammates are Kamizuku Izumo and Inuzuka Hana. Report to the western gate immediately."

The chuunin bowed. "Understood, Hokage-sama." He straightened, and then he was gone.

Tsunade's hands folded in front of her face. "Haruno Sakura. Nara Shikamaru."

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" Shikamaru responded with a fair imitation of attentiveness. Sakura just stood there, and Tsunade's eyes narrowed before she spoke again.

"You will be replacing Izumo-kun and Kotetsu-kun as my personal assistants. Your duties will include, but are not limited to, running messages and relaying orders, preparing reports, meeting with petitioners, and, if necessary, helping me defend myself against attack. In the event that I am out of the village or otherwise indisposed, you will assist Shizune instead. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru replied, a hint of sourness in his voice. Sakura echoed him flatly a half-second later.

"This might not be the most glamorous assignment, Shikamaru-kun," Tsunade said firmly, "but it is a valuable one and is considered an honor."

"And the only reason we're getting it is so that stronger ninja can be used in the war," Shikamaru finished.

"That is a reason, yes," Tsunade said. "Do you have a problem with that, Shikamaru-kun?"

"No, Hokage-sama."

"Good." Tsunade's hands unfolded. "Shikamaru-kun, I need you to run up to the administrative buildings and get an updated report on the damage there. Sakura-chan, likewise with the hospital complex, and then swing by the temporary infirmaries we've set up by there and ask Shizune for a report on the medical situation. Understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the two chuunin said, this time in almost-unison. Shikamaru was gone shortly thereafter, but Sakura hesitated.

Tsunade's eyes softened. "Do you need something, Sakura-chan?" she asked gently.

"I…" Sakura trailed off.

"I'm not going to say I know what you're going through," Tsunade said, "but I've been through a similar hell." She paused. "Don't let this destroy you." Sakura didn't say anything, and Tsunade sighed. "If you ever need somebody to talk to, I'm here," she said, but her tone of voice made it clear she knew just how little intention Sakura had of taking that offer.

Part of her did actually want to talk to somebody, but somebody like Kakashi, or Iruka, or even Anko. Hell, she'd feel more comfortable talking to Naruto about this than the Hokage. Even if she could talk to someone, though, where would she find the words? Her eyes watered as her mind danced around the terrible matter, but she managed to force herself not to cry.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," she said flatly after far too long. Then she left, and she didn't need to turn around to see the worry in Tsunade's eyes as they followed her path.

* * *

Naruto stared at the High Priestess of the Thunder Dragon for a moment. "Isn't your apprentice supposed to be teaching me today, Kaida-sensei?" he asked.

"It seems," Kaida said sourly, "that the Raikage has a pressing need for Junhime's services. Now I understand why my teacher made me resign my position in the Hidden Cloud before I could become his apprentice."

"You aren't a Cloud ninja?" Naruto asked, blinking. Come to think of it, she didn't wear a forehead protector.

Kaida seemed to read Naruto's mind, rubbing at her bare forehead. "I still have the forehead protector," she said, "and none would deny me the right to wear it if I choose. It would be… politically foolish, though."

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"If you'd taken me up on my offer to provide some histories about the First Raikage's life," the High Priestess said irritably, "you would know." She sighed. "It could be seen as a declaration of my intentions to seek the title of Raikage. Even you should see why the current Raikage would have issues with that."

The Leaf genin nodded. "So, what now?" he asked.

"I will train you today, for two reasons." Kaida raised a finger. "First, because with Junhime gone, there's no one else I can trust to train you."

Naruto's eyes flashed. "How could you trust her?" he asked.

Kaida laughed lightly. "I know what she knows, and I trust her to act in the most efficient way to get what she wants without undue risk. Or, in other words, I trust her to be predictable. So long as you aren't foolish enough to react to her goading, she won't do anything stupid."

"I see," Naruto said flatly.

Kaida raised a second finger. "Also, this will aid my work."

"How?" Naruto demanded.

"I want to see how you use the demon's chakra in battle," Kaida said simply.

Naruto swallowed, backing away and shaking his head. "No way."

"I don't want you to go all the way," Kaida said. "The higher manifestations of the Kyuubi's chakra could get troublesome even for me. I only want to see the first stage."

"No," Naruto said firmly.

The High Priestess's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I am trying to help you, Naruto-kun," she said flatly, "but if you don't cooperate it will be much harder."

"He's dangerous," Naruto said flatly. "I'm not going to use him in just a spar. No matter what."

There was a long moment where Naruto thought his defiance might have pushed the woman too far, but then she laughed. "Very good," she said, and then there was a sudden knock at the doors of the training ground. "Come in," Kaida said, raising her voice

In a handful of moments, an acolyte was kneeling before her. "Forgive the interruption, Kaida-sama," the younger woman said, "but we have received a petition for sanctuary."

Kaida nodded. "I see."

"Sanctuary?" Naruto asked.

"It's a custom in Lightning Country," Kaida said, "Debtors and the like, and even criminals, can request sanctuary from the temple. If I grant it, they have the temple's protection so long as they obey our rules, stay on temple grounds, and if necessary do penance for their crimes." She glanced down at the acolyte. "What does our guest seek sanctuary for?"

"Theft, High Priestess," the acolyte answered, "and murder."

"I see." Kaida smiled a harsh, tight smile. "Well, I suppose I should see whether our guest truly intends repentance or simply a way to avoid justice."

"So anyone can ask for sanctuary?" Naruto asked, possibilities occurring to him.

"Yes," the acolyte answered before Kaida could respond, "but not all requests are granted."

The High Priestess just sighed, gesturing for the acolyte to rise. "Let's go," she said softly. "Naruto-kun, you're free for now, I suppose." She paused, as though she was about to say something, then just shook her head and left, the acolyte trailing after her.

Naruto waited just a few moments before hurrying back to his room. He pondered the risks of attempting to sneak out of the temple, but decided it was too dangerous at the moment. There was no telling how long Kaida would take, and he felt leaving a shadow replication behind wouldn't fool her if she went looking for him. Besides, if Junhime was gone on a mission, there would be plenty of safer opportunities to search for Kakashi. Instead, Naruto did something that didn't come easily to him. He forced himself to sit on his bed and start planning how he was going to save his teacher.

* * *

**Day Eighty-one**

To the unpracticed eye, there was nothing to show that the man talking to Kiyomura Zeshin was a member of Storm. Unlike their counterparts in the Leaf's ANBU or the Mist's hunter ninja, the Cloud's Storm did not wear masks as part of their uniform. Some Storm did wear masks, of course, but it was not required. Instead, secret techniques were used to alter the faces of Storm sent on undercover missions. A skilled medical ninja like Tsunade of the legendary Sannin could probably detect and reverse the changes during autopsy of a corpse, but less intense investigation would find nothing unusual.

An observer aware of such things would have noticed the subtle differences in the uniform of Zeshin's companion that gave away his affiliation. There was truly nothing unusual about Zeshin speaking with a Storm member, however. He was relatively well-known in the village as an ex-member of that organization. He had many friends there, and even members of the Cloud's elite special forces units had innocent conversations with their friends.

The setting of their talk, a popular lunch spot near one of Storm's public bases, lent itself to that interpretation. The two talked quietly, but made no particular attempt to avoid being eavesdropped on. Their conversation stopped briefly when a waiter brought over their meals, but that was hardly unusual. All in all, there was nothing to suggest that anything secret was occurring.

Sometimes the best way to hide something was to stick it out where anyone could see it. Zeshin picked at the salad he had ordered - a new dish based on Water Country cuisine - while watching his companion attack his sandwich. "You must be hungry, Murai," he said between bites.

The other ninja swallowed before answering. "Missed breakfast," he rumbled. "Overslept and couldn't afford to be late since things are so busy."

"You're still doing that?" Zeshin asked with a laugh. "There are techniques that could help."

Murai grinned. "I think that's my hidden Bloodline Limit," he said, "immunity to that sort of technique."

Zeshin snorted, taking another careful bite of his salad. "This isn't half-bad. Want to try some?" he offered.

"Not bad," Murai agreed after a moment.

"Why are things so busy?" Zeshin asked.

"You should know," Murai responded. "When four of our best get put on an emergency mission, the rest of us have to pick up the slack."

"Imagine how the High Priestess feels," Zeshin said.

Murai let out a bark of laughter. "I bet she wishes she'd made Junhime-sama resign as a ninja before becoming her apprentice."

"Junhime's mission isn't causing any problems, is it?" Zeshin asked.

Murai shook his head. "It's okay. I'm bringing in a couple more people who I think I can trust, but even if they don't work out everything should go smoothly." He paused to devour the remainder of his meal. "We'll be ready," he said very quietly. "You just give the word."

Zeshin answered just as softly. "I'm not certain when that will -" He cut off suddenly.

Murai looked around. "Something wrong?" he asked. One hand hovered over the hilt of a hidden weapon.

Zeshin shook his head. "Nothing." He hesitated. "I just… remembered something. Nothing you need to worry about yet."

"Ah." Murai looked at Zeshin for a moment, then pointed at his salad. "You going to finish that?"

"Yes," Zeshin answered harshly, and Murai laughed.

A few minutes later, they finished eating and parted ways. Zeshin casually wandered the streets of the Cloud Village, eventually reaching a quiet area on the border of the district of the city where ninja usually lived. Here, he moved more cautiously, making certain he wasn't being followed before entering a small alleyway. He knelt. "You summoned me?"

A figure emerged from the shadows. A simple bamboo hat his his facial features, but the red and black cloak he wore declared his allegiance. "So, it did work. Good."

In an instant, Zeshin was on his feet, a kunai drawn. "You aren't," he began.

"No," the other man agreed, interrupting Zeshin. "I am his partner." The man smiled. "The fact that I knew the technique to summon you should prove that."

Zeshin didn't relax. "What business have you with me, if you are who you say you are?"

"I have a mission for you," the man said. "I believe you are positioned well to know the status of the Kyuubi brat, no?"

"Perhaps," Zeshin said.

"You are aware that another member of our organization has made her home here?" the man asked.

"It is possible," Zeshin answered.

The Akatsuki member sighed. "I can see this is going to take a very long time if you won't trust me."

"Tell me your purpose," Zeshin demanded.

"I want you to ensure that the Kyuubi brat remains free," the other man answered calmly.

Zeshin's grip tightened on his blade. "Treason?" he snarled, tensing.

"No." There was something in the man's voice that made Zeshin freeze. "Akatsuki is an alliance of equals," he said, "and care must be taken to keep it from splintering." He paused, clearly weighing how much to say. "We are operating according to a timetable, but there is a faction that intends to gain advantage by securing their targets in advance."

"And you?" Zeshin pressed.

"Your master and I," the man stressed, "wish to prevent this without resorting to open conflict that could destroy Akatsuki." He smiled. "As odd at it sounds, at the moment being defeated is the only thing that can save Akatsuki."

"I understand." Zeshin sheathed his weapon, then turned to leave.

"You haven't said whether you will serve me," the Akatsuki member said dangerously.

"It's pointless," Zeshin answered. "No matter what my decision is, I have no reason not to tell you I will."

The other man laughed. "Very well." He too turned away. "I'm not a patient man, though. I didn't travel as quickly as I did just to wait for weeks and weeks once I arrived here. If I don't see progress soon, I'll have to take matters into my own hands, and that won't be good for you or the Cloud."

"You'll have your answer in three days," Zeshin responded after a moment, and then both men were gone.

* * *

A tiny part of Sakura was glad for the all-consuming numbness that had engulfed her since… the event that she couldn't think about too hard. Had she been capable of feeling and reacting like a normal human being, she didn't know whether she could have endured visiting the rapidly more-permanent seeming temporary infirmaries set up around the ruins of what had been the Leaf's hospital. There were hundreds of wounded being tended by the over-stretched staff, and at least dozens that could have been saved had already died because the needed medicine was buried in the rubble.

Sakura picked her way through the crowded tents until she found the command center, a nearby building that had survived the attack intact. An exhausted medical ninja lay sprawled out on a cot set up near the entryway, obviously still wearing the same clothes he had been for days. Almost automatically, Sakura began to move more quietly as she passed him and went up a narrow set of stairs. She knocked once on the first door on the right, just as she had the day before.

"Come in, Sakura-chan," came Shizune's voice. The pink-haired kunoichi let herself in. The Hokage's assistant sat behind a small desk cluttered with handwritten medical reports and looked only marginally less tired than the sleeping medic below. "Tsunade-sama wants today's report?"

Sakura just nodded. Tsunade had been keeping her and Shikamaru busy running from place to place for reports, and Sakura knew far more than she wished to about how much damage the Mist and Sound had managed to do. It was another reason part of her didn't mind the dull blanket of indifference that covered her.

"I haven't had time to write it out today." Shizune yawned. "We finished the autopsy of that faceless body the ANBU found," she said. "It's definitely Orochimaru's technique, and we're pretty sure the victim was the representative from Hidden Star." She yawned again. "Which means that the woman who delivered the mission request was a Sound agent, and that Yuuhi-san's mission was another ambush."

"Another ambush?" Sakura asked flatly, surprised at herself for managing to show that much interest.

Shizune blinked. "Gods, that was this morning wasn't it? Sorry." She rubbed wearily at her eyes. "ANBU brought in Maito Gai and Funeno Daikoku's Team Four this morning. As we suspected after getting the news from Sand, their missions in Rain Country were a setup for an ambush." She took a deep breath. "Genin Yamashiro Naizen died in transit, but the only other significant injuries were self-inflicted severe muscle strain from Maito-san. Tsunade-sama will want to know about that too."

Sakura nodded. "I understand," she said. "Anything else?"

"Of course," Shizune said, "but nothing that can't wait until I have a chance to write it down. Things haven't changed much since yesterday except for the details." She grimaced. "Just a few more moved from the dying to the dead column."

Sakura knew that she should feel something at this, but couldn't make herself summon the slightest emotion. "Understood," she said after a moment, and then she turned to leave.

Later, after she tonelessly repeated Shizune's words to the Hokage, the older woman nodded shortly. "As expected," she said grimly. "Shikamaru-kun!"

The other chuunin, who had been leaning against the wall looking more and more worried as Sakura gave her report, straightened. "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Tell Shiz-" Tsunade halted in mid-word, then cursed. "I guess I'll have to get the letter for the Star written myself. Never mind. You two can break for lunch. I'll want you back here at… let's say two."

The two chuunin nodded and left the Hokage's temporary office. Shikamaru glanced sideways at Sakura for a long moment, then sighed. "You're coming to get lunch with me." Sakura just nodded and began to follow him. Shikamaru sighed again, a brief flicker of worry passing over his face, but he said nothing as he lead her to a small restaurant nearby, one of the few that was open at the moment.

Ino and Chouji were waiting for them there. Almost before Sakura could notice them, Ino was embracing her, tears running down her face. "Sakura!" she said, her voice choking.

The pink-haired girl was still and unmoving in Ino's arms. Her mouth opened several times, but it was almost half a minute before she managed to get out an "Ino?" Almost-emotions churned confusedly under her protective, unfeeling numbness.

Ino loosened her hold slightly. "ANBU came to me after the attack," she said. "To ask me about… my… your… Sakura… I…" She trailed off.

Shikamaru rubbed at his forehead. "Everyone's staring at you, Ino," he said, glancing around the restaurant.

Flushing, Ino dragged both Sakura and Shikamaru over to the corner booth where Chouji was still sitting. After glaring almost half-heartedly at the other patrons for a moment, Ino's attention returned to Sakura. "Are you okay, Sakura?" she asked softly. Sakura didn't… couldn't say anything.

Shikamaru sighed. "Of course she isn't," he said, rolling his eyes. "Would you be?"

Sakura stared at the table uncomfortably. They knew, then. About… it. Her mother was dead, and she was the one who had killed her. Sakura began to curl in on herself, that bare fact pounding in her head. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else could matter.

"Sakura!" Ino's almost-shout managed to pierce the din of the litany already beginning in Sakura's mind. The blonde's hands reached out too fast for Sakura to avoid, grasping her own hands. "ANBU… your mother…" She trailed off again, then snarled, "Damn it!"

"We're here for you," Chouji rumbled suddenly.

"Even this lazy bum here," Ino said, half-releasing her death-grip on Sakura's hands to gesture at Shikamaru. He sighed, mouthing "troublesome," but even in her distracted state Sakura could see the very real concern in his eyes.

There was a sudden cough, and all four ninja finally noticed the annoyed waitress standing just out of earshot. Ino dropped Sakura's hands and began to order. Sakura just stared uncomprehendingly at the menu laying in front of her while the others ordered, and when everyone stared at her she quickly mumbled "The same." The stares doubled in intensity, and Sakura realized that it had been Chouji who ordered last. "As her," she added after a moment too long, gesturing weakly at Ino. Satisfied, the waitress left.

"Sakura," Ino said. "You don't even like -"

Shikamaru interrupted her. "Isn't that Neji?" he asked, straightening in his seat. Sakura didn't turn around to look.

"It is," Ino said, "but I don't recognize those two with him."

"New teammates?" Chouji asked.

"It'd be weird," Shikamaru stated after a moment. "His whole team made chuunin, so I'd think they'd stick together instead of getting broken up like us."

"You guys have been broken up?" Sakura somewhere found the curiosity to ask.

"Well, I'm stuck doing Hokage-sama's busywork with you," Shikamaru said.

"I'm on reconstruction duty," Chouji added.

Ino grimaced. "And for some reason they've put me working in the academy to replace the teachers getting called up to combat duty." She shook her head. "I hate kids."

Sakura realized quickly that her three companions were waiting for her to say something in response. Even knowing this, though, she couldn't make herself find anything worth saying. Even something as unrelated as Ino's last sentence was sending her mind down familiar, dark paths, and she couldn't escape them.

Ino seemed to grasp the direction of Sakura's thoughts, and her face darkened. "ANBU wanted to know if my father knew," she said suddenly. "Whether he was an accomplice." Sakura didn't say anything. "I don't think he was," the blonde continued, "and I don't think ANBU thinks he was either."

From somewhere inside of her, a surge of jealousy passed through Sakura. Even now, she knew how wrong it was, but a dark part of her wished that it was Ino who had suffered all this. That it was Ino's team that was broken by betrayal and scattered across the world. That it was Ino who had killed her mother. That anybody but her was feeling what she was feeling now.

"I hope," Ino said, and then she swallowed, looking away. "I hope if he was," she continued weakly, "I'd have the courage to do what you did." Even Shikamaru and Chouji looked surprised at this statement.

Sakura's eyes burned. "I didn't know," she hissed. She shuddered once. "I didn't know," she repeated. Sudden anger boiled up inside of her. "I still don't know. Why? Why, damn it!"

After a moment, Ino reached out, again grasping Sakura's hands. "Sakura," she said softly, "it's okay to cry."

And she did.

* * *

**Day Eighty-two**

It had been almost a week since the Mist had occupied the Wave Country. The strike had been sudden and made with overwhelming force. Outnumbered at least five to one, the beleaguered Leaf defenders had still managed hold out for almost a day before organized resistance collapsed. The daimyo's small guard force had barely factored into the fight, and the daimyo had been forced to belatedly invite the Mist to enter the country before the second day of the invasion had ended.

Team Eight had been out hunting smugglers in the small islands on the southern end of Wave Country when the attack had started, and by the time they had learned of it the fighting was almost over. Going to ground, they had made their way to where the Leaf's command post had been stationed, near the bizarrely named Great Naruto Bridge, in hopes of finding other survivors.

They hadn't found any yet, but they had found enough evidence that there were others. The Mist had sealed the island shortly after Team Eight had returned, and someone had destroyed the building commandeered by the Mist to serve as a barracks the day after. Mist teams hunted the island for Leaf ninja, and Team Eight's most pressing concern had quickly become escape.

The primary problem with that was that the island was surrounded by water, lending a powerful advantage to the Mist ninja. Traveling by sea was far too risky, as almost certainly the enemy's water element users would detect any such attempt. That left only the bridge as a way to reach the Fire Country. Unfortunately, the Mist knew that too, and the bridge was constantly guarded.

Aburame Shino raised a finger, and a small flying insect landed lightly atop it. He brought the bug up to his face and stared intently at it for several moments before sending it flying again with a slight flick of his finger. "It's time," he said shortly.

Inuzuka Kiba straightened. "All right. You ready, Hinata?"

The Hyuuga heiress nodded, looking straight at her teammates despite the dirty rag that covered her eyes. "Yes… Neji-niisan," she answered quietly.

Kiba grimaced. "I still hate being called that," he said.

"The Mist team we escorted to the Chuunin Exam may have given our names and descriptions," Shino stated.

"I know that," Kiba grumbled. "All right, then. Akamaru, let's go. You too… little sister." Akamaru barked once, and Kiba glanced sideways at Shino. "You certain those bugs won't hurt him?" he asked.

"No more than fleas," Shino said.

"Let's go," Hinata said, and began to move. Kiba and Akamaru followed an instant later, the boy grasping Hinata's arm and pretending to lead her before they left their concealment in a small grove of trees. They slowly made their way, not to the Great Naruto Bridge itself, but to a small pier not far away. Unlike the bridge, it was guarded usually by only a single genin team, though its closeness meant that the sound of fighting would quickly draw attention from the bridge guards.

Thanks to a collection of tricks and careful use of the Transformation Technique, the group made a sorry sight as they approached the Mist genin team. Running ahead, Akamaru seemed thin an malnourished, clearly the pet of the beggar boy and his blind sister who followed after him. Though the economic situation in the Wave Country had improved of late, it was far from wealthy enough for such a sight to be at all unusual.

Akamaru stopped as they neared the three Mist genin, letting out a friendly bark. Laughing, the lone kunoichi on the squad knelt beside him, gently petting him. "Hello again, little fellow."

"Neji-kun," one of her teammates said.

"Kaede-san," Kiba replied without hesitation.

"Hello," Hinata said quietly, taking a step closer to Kiba.

"It's okay, Hana-chan," Kiba said quietly. "These are our friends, remember?"

"Why are you here?" the Mist ninja who had remained silent, clearly the leader of the three, asked firmly. "Did you find another Leaf supply cache?" It had been a cache made by Team Eight out of their spare supplies, of course, and Kiba had reported "finding" it to these three two days ago.

"No," he answered, "but I'm looking out for more, and thank you again for the food, Toru-san."

The other male ninja, who had joined the kunoichi in petting Akamaru, grinned. "And you'll be smelling for more, won't you, boy?" Akamaru barked once in reply, and the boy laughed. "It's almost like he understands me, isn't it?"

Something shifted in Toru's eyes, and it took all of Kiba's willpower not to frown. There was a blur of motion, and the Mist ninja's fist stopped a mere fraction of an inch from Hinata's face. The disguised Hyuuga didn't flinch.

It was Kaede who responded first, rising and almost shouting "What the hell are you doing?"

As Toru slowly retracted his arm, his male teammate moved behind him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Easy there," he said. "What's going on Toru?"

"For a minute I thought she," the chastened-sounding ninja began, but then he shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

"What's going on?" Hinata asked, making confusion plain in her voice.

"Nothing," Kiba answered, though he stepped between her and the Mist ninja.

"My apologies," Toru said. Almost as his feet, Akamaru barked, and after a moment the Mist ninja half-knelt to give the dog a perfunctory pat. "Times of war are suspicious times."

"I understand," Kiba replied agreeably, doing his best to hide his joy. Now that all three of them had touched Akamaru, it was only a matter of Shino sending a signal to his bugs.

"I'm gla-" Kaede stiffened in mid-word, her eyes flickering shut.

"Kaede-chan, what's -" Before Toru could finish speaking, he and his other teammate joined Kaede in sudden slumber, collapsing to the ground without a sound.

Akamaru let out a happy bark, and Kiba grinned at him. "Good work," he said, having to remind himself not to pet his partner for the moment. Shino had explained that these bugs could understand not to bite a host he placed them on, but couldn't be made to comprehend distinguishing between targets beyond that. Now that he had signaled them, they would attack anyone that touched Akamaru. After a moment, Kiba turned to Hinata.

Before he could say anything, she nodded. "The guards at the bridge don't seem to have noticed anything."

As if her words had summoned him, Shino emerged from concealment. He wordlessly walked over to Akamaru, crouching down and holding one hand over the dog. A moment later, the bug user rose. "He's safe now."

"Good," Kiba said.

"Hinata," Shino stated a half-instant later.

"I know," the Hyuuga heiress stated calmly. She quickly removed the rag from around her eyes and swallowed a soldier pill. After taking a deep breath, she made a rapid sequence of seals. "Shadow Replication Technique." Three clones appeared, then an instant later two transformed into copies of her teammates. Hinata staggered, almost collapsing.

Kiba caught her. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'll be fine," she said weakly, pulling away from him and straightening. Her three clones raced toward the lone boat tied up at the small pier and set about readying it to sail.

"Kiba," Shino stated.

"I know, I know." Kiba rolled his eyes. He quickly picked up Akamaru, placing the dog on his shoulder. "Time for us to go." A few minutes later, he and Shino were hiding within eyesight of the bridge, waiting for the guards to notice the boat carrying Hinata's clones out to sea.

It took a few moments, but soon an alarm bell rang, and almost half of the bridge guards began to race off, some jumping down to the water, no doubt to run after the boat. Shino held up a hand, warning Kiba to wait a moment longer. Kiba nodded, but he fed Akamaru a soldier pill before eating one himself anyway. "We wait for Hinata to lead them far enough away, then charge, right?"

"You know that," Shino stated, and he dropped his hand. "Now."

Kiba grinned toothily, forming a long sequence of seals as he channeled chakra in unnatural patterns through himself and Akamaru. "Inuzuka-Style Rare Beast Transformation: Double-Headed Wolf!" There was a moment of pure pain as he and Akamaru twisted and merged into one terrible two-headed monster, but Kiba didn't let himself waste time before charging the bridge.

The handful of remaining guards barely had time to notice the oncoming beast before Kiba became a twisting whirlwind of destruction, crashing through their ranks. The speed was too much for Kiba to effectively track targets, but he still felt one of his paws strike an enemy as he came out the other side of their hastily formed defensive line. A handful of kunai bounced harmlessly off his thick hide as he stopped and spun about to face the enemy.

He didn't give them any time to recover their wits and try a stronger attack. Both of his fanged mouths gaped open and twin torrents of flame poured out of them, scattering the Mist. An instant later, Shino was beside him, leaping up to sit on his back. "Now," he hissed, and abruptly Kiba spun about once more and began to race across the bridge.

It took a moment for the Mist to gather themselves, but then they charged. There were five of them, most likely chuunin, and Kiba knew that if they were caught he and Shino would be hard-pressed to fight them off, much less the rest of the guards, who would be shortly returning from the distraction of Hinata's boat.

Shino dropped a large handful of smoke bombs, creating a massive wall of thick black smoke between the pair of Leaf ninja and their pursuers. Almost as soon the Mist lost sight of them, a huge cloud of insects poured out from underneath Shino's coat, flying ahead of Kiba. "Insect Replication Technique," the bug user commanded, and the bugs formed a perfect image of him and the monster Kiba had become. Without waiting for Shino's word, the real Kiba leapt off the bridge.

They never hit the water. Instead, as the smoke dissipated and the Mist guards charged off after Shino's clone, Shino and Kiba, who had separated from Akamaru and shifted back to his natural form, were standing on the underside of the bridge. A few moments later, Hinata joined them.

"No problems," Shino said, and it was clear it wasn't a question.

Hinata nodded. "There's a ledge hanging under the bridge a little ways back," she offered.

"Must be to help with repair work of something," Kiba said as he started heading toward it. A few moments later, they were all seated there. Kiba stretched his legs. "Glad this is here," he said. "I wasn't certain if I was up to hanging there all day."

"Hinata," Shino said simply.

The kunoichi nodded, forming a few quick seals. Kiba let out a deep breath. All there was to do now was hope that Hinata's cloaking technique held until nightfall. Then they could sneak across the underside of the bridge and hopefully make it to the mainland without any more problems. After that, he thought, they wouldn't have any difficulty evading the Mist forces and hooking up with the Leaf counter-attack that had to be being prepared.

But for now, all that could be done was waiting.

* * *

"Not bad," Kaida said. A cold smile graced the High Priestess's face as she studied Naruto. "Not as good as someone with a real talent for lightning element ninjutsu, but better than I expected from Junhime's reports."

Breathing heavily, Naruto let the tiny globe of sparking electricity hovering above his outstretched finger. "I don't see the point of this technique," he muttered.

"It's not useful in battle," Kaida agreed, "but it has it purposes."

"Like?" Naruto asked.

Kaida shrugged. "It provides a bit of light, for one. It's main purpose, though, is simply training. Changing the size of and maintaining the sphere tests your ability to control lightning-natured chakra." She smiled again. "And testing abilities is the best way to improve them."

After a moment, Naruto nodded. "What next?" he asked, almost eagerly. He couldn't really say that Kaida was a good teacher, but her training sessions were so much less stressful than the ones he'd had with Junhime. At least, unlike her apprentice, the High Priestess didn't try to goad him into trying to kill her.

"Nothing for now," Kaida said. She smiled much more warmly than before. "I have a meeting with the Raikage that you wouldn't want me to miss."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I am given to understand," Kaida said, "that the Raikage has finally consented to an improvement in Hatake Kakashi's status." She raised a finger. "He's not being released, but he should be more comfortable at least."

"Thank you," Naruto replied after a moment. "That's not enough, though."

"I know that," Kaida said. "I'm doing everything I can to help him, but it's a miracle that I've managed this much." She sighed. "It would be easier if it was anyone other than Sharingan Kakashi, but it can't be helped, I suppose." She laughed. "I'm sure names like Akakawa Tetsu are as hated by the Leaf."

"Never heard of him," Naruto said automatically.

"I suppose you wouldn't have," Kaida muttered. Then she laughed once more. "Then again, the Leaf won the war and Tetsu ultimately became a missing ninja, so there's less need for you all to remember his deeds."

"Who was he?" Naruto asked.

"He was one of the Cloud's greatest heroes," Kaida replied. "He commanded the forces that kept the Leaf from ever destroying the Sky Village." She shrugged. "After the war he was blamed for the Cloud's defeat by some and he left. He got mixed up with some other dangerous criminals, but he hasn't been heard from in years so he's probably dead now."

Oddly, Naruto thought that Kaida sounded amused telling the man's story, but he didn't dwell on it. "Thank you for helping Kakashi-sensei," he said after a moment.

Kaida nodded. "You're welcome," she said gravely, and then she left.

Naruto immediately headed back to his room, making a point of yawning and grumbling about how tired his training had left him as he passed a pair of acolytes in the hallway. He'd need to wait a while to be certain Kaida was gone, but this was the perfect time to sneak out and do… well, something to help Kakashi. He still didn't really have much of a plan, but doing anything was better than just sitting around waiting for Kaida to pull off the impossible or for Jiraiya to return and solve everything.

Naruto grimaced to himself as the door to his room shut behind him. What was the old pervert up to, anyway? Sure, he'd said he wouldn't be able to travel back and forth between the Cloud village and the library he was going to study at, but it had been around half a month. He could have at least sent a letter or something.

Naruto shook his head. He didn't have time to waste with that sort of thought. After quickly creating a shadow replication and having it go to sleep, he changed into his disguise as a genin Cloud kunoichi. Standing in front of a mirror, he quickly used the Transformation Technique to add the final elements and inspected himself. Not seeing anything out of place, he listened at his door until he was certain nobody was walking down the hall outside, then slipped out.

Thankfully, his room wasn't all that far from the public areas of the temple, and in a matter of moments he was safe in the throng of pilgrims and other worshipers. In that crowd, another Cloud genin was hardly worthy of note, and the priests near the gates of the temple didn't even glance at him as he passed them.

As he made his way down the long road the wound down the mountain and into the Cloud Village proper, Naruto tried to think about exactly what he was going to do. Thanks to some careful questioning of the High Priestess and others, he was fairly certain that he could identify Storm uniforms. Finding Storm members might tell him where Storm's interrogation center was, but he didn't like the risk of trying to follow elite Cloud jounin around. He was far too likely to get noticed.

To get to the city, he had to pass the Raikage's palace, and that brought his thoughts to Kaida's meeting. Just what had she managed to get the Raikage to do to help Kakashi, anyway? He shook his head again. There wasn't anything he could do about that right now. Picking up his pace, he entered the ninja district of the city, and settled into wandering about looking like he knew where he was going.

As he traveled, he kept an eye out for Storm uniforms, but he only saw a handful, and not in any large clusters that might indicate the presence of a Storm base nearby. He ruthlessly quashed the tiny part of him that said that he wasn't going to accomplish anything  
Thankfully, his rumbling stomach soon distracted him from that line of thought, and he paused to purchase a few sweets. When he stepped out of that store, he found himself looking at the Cloud's hospital. A couple of medical ninja and doctors were loitering outside the entrance smoking, and Naruto grimaced as he wondered which might be about to head to help experiment on Kakashi. Before they could notice him looking at them, he turned away and began to walk off at a brisk pace.

"Hey, girl!" came a nervous-sounding, slightly familiar voice from behind him. Naruto risked a look backward, and saw the doctor who had helped Jiraiya in Earth Country racing up behind him. Naruto stopped moving, and the doctor caught up with him.

"You dropped this," he said shortly, pressing a coin into the disguised boy's hands.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked quietly, smiling like he was thanking the man.

"I have news for you." The doctor grimaced. "I know I said… but, well… I just couldn't not tell you."

Naruto barely stopped himself from swallowing nervously. "What?" he asked, his mind dancing through dark possibilities.

"Sharingan Kakashi," the doctor said, and then he hesitated. "He's getting transferred from Storm's interrogation squad's control," he said after a moment, "over to the Raikage's personal guard." He took a deep breath. "Raikage-sama wants him to get a full medical checkup to catch any lingering problems from his interrogation before they become serious. He'll be at the hospital at two in the afternoon the day after tomorrow."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Thank you," he breathed.

The doctor looked away. "It was nothing," he said, and then he abruptly turned around and walked off.

Naruto swallowed as he realized just how big a risk the doctor had just taken. Hadn't he gotten in trouble with the Rock back in Earth Country for helping out a Sand prisoner somehow too? Naruto forced his guilt aside. The doctor had made his choice, and it was up to him to make it worth something.

Naruto walked quickly until he found a secluded alley where he could get some privacy. He hesitated briefly then, but ultimately bit at his thumb, and formed a set of seals. Jiraiya had told him not to summon while he was here, but that was about sacred places or something, and this wasn't the temple ground.

There was a small puff of smoke, and soon a toad grinned up at him. "Naruto!" Gamakichi exclaimed happily.

"Hi," Naruto said, smiling weakly, but then his expression turned serious. "Listen, is there any way I can talk to your dad without having to summon him?"

The toad frowned. "What's wrong?"

"I need his help to save Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, "and I'm not going to have time to convince him when I bring him out."

After a long moment, Gamakichi nodded. "All right," he said, his voice all business. "Tell me what you need."

* * *

**Day Eighty-three**

Sakura stifled a yawn as she locked the door to Naruto's apartment behind her. She was doing a little better since her… talk with Ino, but when she lay in bed at night there were no distractions to keep her thoughts from traveling down those familiar, traveled paths. What she could remember of her dreams were even worse, and the little sleep she got was anything but restful.

Sakura yawned again. Thinking along those lines was only going to lead her back to her troubles, and she was thinking clearly enough to want to avoid that. Rubbing at her eyes, she turned away from the door and slowly made her way to the stairs leading down to the street. She knew she was already running a little late, but she couldn't make herself care enough to hurry.

She passed a couple of her neighbors on the stairs. One of the men started to say "Good morning," as she came up behind them, but he cut off as soon as he turned around to see who it was. The two adults stopped as she walked past them, and Sakura could feel their stares on her back and hear their harsh whispers. Once she might have been curious at the half-heard word "demon," but again she couldn't summon the slightest interest.

She did manage to smile weakly at the owner of the Ichiraku, who was sweeping out the dirt and dust of the previous day, but nothing else attracted her attention, even as she passed into the areas that had suffered greater damage in the attack. Despite her lateness, it was still an early hour, but even now workers were busy repairing some buildings and demolishing those too damaged to be worth saving. There was a ninja with each repair crew; Sakura had been in the Hokage's office when that was ordered due to the number of active explosive tags and other traps the Mist had scattered throughout the village during their retreat.

As always, the academy grounds were a hive of activity, though not for the usual reasons. There were no students there now; Ino had mentioned that they were holding classes in the evacuation shelters since the academy had been commandeered by the Hokage. The ANBU guards and other regulars didn't give Sakura a second look as she headed to the doors, already used to her presence.

"Haruno-kun!" The sudden shout made Sakura start, and she spun around to see a slightly distressed-looking Yuuhi Kurenai running up to her.

A part of her noted with some relief that even in her current state, she could summon up a bit of happiness that the jounin had survived the suspected ambush by Sound no worse for the wear. "Kurenai-sensei?" she managed to ask after a moment.

"Do you happen to know where Anko-chan is?" the older woman asked. "I went by her apartment after my debriefing, and it was wrecked. I was dropping by to check since the interrogation squad is supposed to be operating out of here."

Sakura shuddered. Guilt welled up from inside of her as she realized that she hadn't even thought about what had happened to her sometimes teacher. She had seen Shizune carrying her away, promising to take her to Tsunade, but she hadn't heard anything since. The Hokage hadn't mentioned anything, but Sakura could have still asked.

Kurenai's crimson eyes widened. "She isn't -"

Sakura managed to shake her head. "At least not when I saw her last," she forced herself to add. She hesitated. "Do you know about," she began, her hand reflexively clutching at her shoulder.

Kurenai paled. "I got her drunk once and she told me what it was," she said in a horrified half-whisper.

"She did it to…" Sakura couldn't finish for several minutes. "She saved me," she finally said weakly. "Shizune-sama took her afterward. I don't know…"

"I understand," Kurenai said gently. "No wonder you looked so awful. Anko-chan wouldn't want you to beat yourself up so much over this." A nearby ANBU guard coughed suddenly, drawing the jounin's attention. "What is it?" He waved her over and whispered in her ear. Kurenai started once, then swallowed, turning back to the pink-haired girl. "I… Sakura…" she said, then shook her head. "There's really not anything worthwhile I can say, is there? Let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

Sakura managed to get out a polite, meaningless "Thank you," before pushing past the the two older ninja and into the building. Taking a deep breath, she made her way to the Hokage's office.

"You're late, Sakura-chan," Tsunade said as the young girl entered.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama," Sakura replied, her lack of true repentance more than obvious.

"I've told you before that you don't have to be quite so formal with me." Tsunade sighed. "We haven't exactly had much time for it to mean anything, but you are my apprentice."

"Tsunade-sama," Sakura forced herself to say, "can I ask a question?"

"Of course."

"What happened to Mitarashi-sensei?"

"I was wondered when you would think to ask after her." Sakura looked away in guilt, and Tsunade sighed again. "I understand," the Hokage said. "Anko-chan is doing as well as can be expected. She's under heavy guard with no visitors allowed until we can be certain that the activation of the cursed seal had no permanent effect on her." Tsunade's eyes softened. "You'll be among the first to know when she gets out, I'm sure."

"Thank you," Sakura said weakly.

Tsunade stared at her apprentice for a long moment. "Let's go to the training ground out back."

"Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked.

"I'm pretty much on top of the paperwork," Tsunade said, "and there's not much I can be doing right now." She looked away briefly. "Our forces should be ready to move out tonight or tomorrow, though we're not spreading the word in case there are spies. I'm going with them, but I'd feel guilty if I left you without giving a single lesson." The Hokage stepped out from behind her desk and headed for the door. "Come on."

Hesitatingly, Sakura followed the older woman out of what had been the headmaster's office. A few passing ninja gave the pair an odd look or two, but none of them dared question the Hokage. Soon enough, they were alone in the training grounds behind the academy, and Tsunade began to stretch. Sakura slowly copied her, and when they were finished the Sannin spoke. "All right, Sakura-chan. Let's see what you can do." When Sakura made no response, Tsunade continued. "Come at me."

Sakura blinked. "I can't -" she began, but she stumbled over her words, uncertain what she was about to say.

"You don't have to worry about hurting me," Tsunade said gently. She grinned. "If you can injure me, I deserve to be injured, and unless you manage to kill me with a single strike I'm not going to be injured for long." She paused. "In fact, it's probably best if you attacked me like you wanted to kill me."

Sakura shuddered involuntarily. "I," she said, but no words came to follow it, nor did she advance on her teacher. Sakura's thoughts flickered to the last time she had fought, then shied away, scattering.

Tsunade waited, tapping her foot, but after almost half a minute she spoke. "If you won't attack, Sakura-chan, I will." The Hokage took a deep breath, and then she was upon Sakura.

Instinct took over, and Sakura found herself rolling out of the way of the older woman's charge. Automatically, her hand found the hilt of a kunai and drew it, preparing to throw it at her attacker. Then Sakura stopped. She remembered how it had felt when her kunai had slipped between her mother's ribs, plunging deep into her flesh. She remembered the blood.

Then Tsunade was upon her again, and this time Sakura wasn't able to dodge. An almost casual flick of a finger sent Sakura flying. The young chuunin landed heavily on her side, and before she could even think of standing Tsunade was kneeling on top of her, a kunai pressed against her student's throat.

Sakura swallowed once, shivering at the cool touch of the metal blade. Her eyes briefly met Tsunade's, but then she looked away. A moment after that, Tsunade put away her weapon and stood. Shaking slightly, Sakura sat up. She still didn't look at Tsunade.

Still, she knew that the Hokage's eyes were as hard as her harsh voice. "I won't let you let this break you, Sakura-chan," she said. "Stand up." Sakura slowly complied. "If you make me strike first again," Tsunade continued, "I won't hold back." She smiled mirthlessly. "I'll beat you within an inch of your life, then heal you so I can do it again if I have to. I'll make you hate me more than anyone you've ever hated, but before you walk out of this training ground today you will be able to come at me with the intent to kill." She straightened. "Now, come."

The first time, it was all Sakura could do to charge her teacher, and she earned a nasty pair of bruises in return. The second time, she managed to try a few halting blows, and Tsunade broke three of her ribs. Green healing chakra encased the Sannin's hands, and less than a minute later Sakura was on her feet, fighting again. By the time Sakura lost count of how many times her teacher had been forced to heal her, she was lost in the flow of battle, futilely trying everything she could and too busy to even think of her troubles.

It was almost noon when Tsunade, not even scratched, called a halt. "Better," was all she said as she released the arm she had twisted behind Sakura's back. "You have the rest of the day free." Then she left.

It took Sakura several minutes to catch her breath. Thanks to Tsunade's legendary healing talents, she wasn't seriously injured, but she felt sore all over. A few passing ninja gave her curious looks as she left the academy, but she paid them no mind, too tired to care. Her stomach rumbled, and she was reminded that it was almost lunchtime and she had eaten no breakfast. Slowly, she made her way to the restaurant where she'd met with Ino and her team, almost hoping to see them. She recognized no one there, though, and so she found herself siting by herself.

This time, at least, she was collected enough to read the menu and order something she actually liked. Not that she had cared last time, as she'd been beyond tasting the little she had actually eaten. Despite her hunger, she ate slowly, since since even those slight motions made her ache. Tsunade hit harder than anyone she had ever seen, much less fought, and Sakura still suspected her teacher hadn't been using even half of her full strength.

The pink-haired kunoichi looked up at a familiar voice, and she saw Neji and the two older ninja she had to guess were his new teammates entering the restaurant. Neji noticed her also, and after a moment of whispering to the two ninja with him he walked over to her. "They needed a Hyuuga to help search your mother's house and I was picked," he said without wasting time on pleasantries.

"Oh," Sakura answered weakly.

"You deserve to see this," Neji continued, pulling out two pieces of paper and dropping them in front of Sakura. Without saying anything else, he turned away and rejoined his apparent teammates.

The piece of paper on top was clearly part of a longer report, and large sections were blacked out. What remained said, though far more verbosely, that based on analysis of the contents and the interrogation of Shimano Ren and a Haruno Shizuru "the letter" was believed to be mostly accurate. Sakura swallowed nervously, then pushed that paper aside and read the carefully copied letter underneath.

"Sakura-chan,

If you're reading this, I'm probably dead and I imagine you hate me. I don't expect that to change, but I want you to know that I love you and I always have loved you and maybe to understand why I did what I did." Sakura's eyed watered, and it was some time before she could move on to the next paragraph.

"I was, or rather am, a chuunin of the Hidden Mist. I was assigned to make your father, who was on a mission to our village, fall in love with me and cultivate him into a source of information on the Leaf. Instead, I fell in love with him. To be with him, I was willing to betray the Mist and defect to the Leaf.

"Your father was going to arrange things here, then send for me. Before he did, I discovered that I was pregnant with you. An unauthorized pregnancy for one of our clan was very dangerous for both the mother and child, and I knew I could not wait for your father any longer. I convinced my superiors that the Leaf would accept me if I arrived there and that I could become a valuable agent.

"When I finally made it to the village, you were born and your father was dead. Inoichi was my only ally, and for your sake I couldn't afford to give the council any reason to reject me. I lied to everyone, even Inoichi, telling them the same cover story I'd originally used on your father, that I was a washout from the Mist's academy.

"For a year, I thought it had worked. That was when the Mist sent a ninja to see why I hadn't reported back. With Inoichi's unwitting help, I was able to hide you, but I knew I couldn't risk any more visits. I couldn't go to the Leaf authorities at this point, having already lied to them. Instead, I became a spy in truth, feeding what little information I knew to the Mist.

"Now it's all falling apart, and I see only one way out.

"I'm sorry."

There was no signature, but Sakura didn't need one. She pushed the paper away violently. "Damn it," she hissed a bit too loudly, drawing some attention. "Mother, you idiot."

* * *

It was surprising to Rui how easy it had been to convince the elders of her clan to approve a trip to the Leaf Village to see if the legendary medic Tsunade could heal the crippling wounds her brother had received at the hands of that shark-man. Even more surprising was that they had ordered a squad of three chuunin to escort them along their journey. It was a little humiliating, actually; not too long ago she and Ichizo could have handily defeated their escorts without breaking too much of a sweat.

But now Ichizo couldn't walk without a cane, and the ice element techniques she had studied for all her life were denied to her. It was the three chuunin who would come out on top in any fight. So would any number of other foes they might face, and so Rui had accepted the escort with as much grace as she could muster.

They had made good time, already reaching the Hidden Village of Rock. Not having any reason to hide their identities or purpose, and given the state of peace that existed between what was left of the Snow Country and the Earth Country, they had experienced no trouble with the Rock border patrols. They had only needed to present their traveling papers and agree to a few fairly standard restrictions on their movements before being wished well on their journey.

It had actually been a little out of their way, but the Rock Village was worth visiting anyway. Even though they were denied access to the village proper, carved into the mountains, a little careful observation in the permanent tent city that sprawled between the Rock Village's three gates could provide a great deal of useful information in a short amount of time. Most of the day had been spent doing just that.

Now, the party of Snow Country ninja were enjoying dinner in the common room of their inn. While the inn was indeed a tent, like all structures outside the Rock Village's gates due to an archaic law forbidding the construction of permanent buildings, it took a careful eye to tell. While the inn might technically have not been permanent, it was clear that it had stood here for many years and that there was no intention to ever take it down.

Rui picked at her meal, doing her best to ignore the discussion of her escorts as to their chances of being promoted to jounin in the next round of tests. Her brother also seemed sour, though Ichizo expressed his irritation by singlemindedly devouring his meal at an almost inhuman speed. The three other ninja seemed not to notice their charges' annoyance, or if they did they did not care.

Rui was considered the possibility of saying something before Ichizo said something worse when all conversation in the common room came to a halt. The Snow Country ninja looked up in unison to see a four-man Rock squad advancing toward them, not looking terribly friendly.

Rui's hand surreptitiously went to the hilt of a kunai. With no subtlety at all, Ichizo reached for the large sword leaning against the wall behind him, though it was unlikely it would be of much use to him. As the Rock ninja neared, the leader of the escort squad stood. "What business have you with us?" he asked dangerously. Neither of his two subordinates made any obvious preparation, but Rui knew that they were ready to fight if needed.

The Rock ninja moved no closer, but spread out to surround their prey's table in a rough semi-circle. "You're to come with us," their apparent leader stated, her voice harsh.

"On what basis?" Ichizo snarled too loudly.

"Indeed," Rui added softly. "We are on legitimate business. You can see our travel papers, signed by your border guards if you like. We registered when we arrived in the village, as instructed."

"As of six this evening," the Rock's leader replied flatly, "the Hidden Village of the Rock is being placed on a war footing. No non-allied ninja are allowed passage through the Earth Country, and all the southern mountain passes are closed to all traffic."

"So we're under arrest?" the escort squad's commander asked dangerously, one hand making rapid signs behind his back. Almost casually, his two subordinates stood, and Rui joined them a moment later.

"I am ordered to take you into custody," the Rock kunoichi said. One of her men loosened a katana strapped to his back form its sheath. "You may consider yourself under arrest if you like, though you will be treated as guests if you behave yourselves."

"And when can we expect to be allowed on our way?" Ichizo asked, still seated.

"Upon the Rock's return to a peacetime status," the kunoichi answered, "though you will be offered the choice of deportation back to Snow Country as soon as operational security allows."

"Rui-sama?" the escort squad's captain asked after a moment.

Rui glanced at Ichizo before answering. "We can't fight the whole Rock Village," she said sourly.

The captain returned his attention to the Rock ninja. "Will we be permitted to keep our weapons?"

The Rock kunoichi relaxed, clearly relieved that there would be no violence. "So long as you do not abuse the privilege."

"Very well," the captain responded, and the Rock squad quickly escorted them from the inn and, eventually, to fairly well-appointed quarters deep inside the Rock Village.

Rui was considering going to sleep early when there was a faint knock on the door to her room. She answered it and found a Rock kunoichi a few years younger than herself standing there. "Kitakami Rui-san?" the girl asked.

"Yes," Rui confirmed.

"Tsuchikage-sama requests your presence," the girl stated.

Rui blinked. "Who does what?" The Rock kunoichi repeated herself. "I heard you the first time," Rui stated. "I just don't understand it." The girl only shrugged, and Rui sighed. "Very well," she said.

They shortly met Ichizo, being led by a male Rock ninja about the same age as the girl who had fetched Rui, and they walked together until they reached a fairly unassuming room, a third young Rock ninja waiting outside the door. He followed behind the other four ninja as they entered.

Seated behind a desk inside was a man wearing the robes of the Tsuchikage. The matching hat was placed on top of the desk, leaving his shaved head bare. The Tsuchikage smiled. "Thank you, Gonkuro-kun, Mako-chan," he said. "I suspect you two and Akira-kun will be interested in hearing what our guests have to say, so stay a while longer." He waved at a collection of chairs spread before his desk. "Please, have a seat."

Ichizo almost collapsed into one of the chairs, but his voice was harsh as he asked "What do you want?"

"I admit that my reports have been fragmentary," the Tsuchikage said, not at all disturbed by Ichizo's rudeness. "Have I erred in believing that you are the Kitakami Ichizo and Rui who were involved in ridding us all of Kitakami Yuki?"

"You are not mistaken, Tsuchikage-sama," Rui said softly

"Then you both deserve and have my thanks on behalf of the Hidden Rock and the Earth Country," the Tsuchikage said. "My apologies for being forced to interrupt your journey, but necessity is the father of much cruelty."

Ichizo shifted in his seat. "You didn't call us here for this."

"No." The Tsuchikage paused. "We have certain friends and enemies in common."

Rui raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Jiraiya and Uzumaki Naruto are our common friends," the Tsuchikage stated and the three Rock genin shifted suddenly in their seats. "As for our common foes, you may not know the names, but I believe you should be familiar with Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame of the Akatsuki." His eyes went to Ichizo's cane, leaving no doubt as to whom he spoke of, even if Rui had indeed not known the names.

"We know them," Ichizo said unnecessarily.

"You would have my deepest personal appreciation," the Tsuchikage continued, "if you would fill in the gaps in my knowledge of what happened after Jiraiya and Naruto-kun left the Earth Country with you and the details of that messy encounter near the northern border after your return."

* * *

**Day Eighty-four**

Naruto took a deep breath as Kakashi came into view. He wore a gray prison uniform, and instead of a forehead protector it was a band of paper covered in arcane characters that covered his Sharingan. Other than that, though, he looked much as Naruto had seen him last, though it was bizarre to see him without a mask. In brighter circumstances, Naruto might have been overjoyed at the opportunity, but now it only strengthened his cold determination to rescue his teacher. There were no obvious signs of mistreatment, much to Naruto's relief. Things would be much easier if Kakashi could at least minimally fight for himself.

The Leaf jounin was being escorted down the street to the hospital by two four-man squads, all wearing the slightly different uniforms that Naruto knew meant they were Storm members. The Cloud weren't taking any chances, but at least so far as Naruto could tell they were mostly watching for an escape attempt from their prisoner. They didn't seem to expect anyone to try and rescue Kakashi in the heart of their own village.

Naruto waited several more moments, carefully searching for any further, hidden forces escorting Kakashi. Then again, if all went as he had planned, it would make no difference how many Cloud he had to face at the beginning. All that mattered was that no one was watching him now. After taking another deep breath, Naruto slowly worked his way through a familiar set of seals, channeling as much chakra as he could.

In an instant, the sensation of the chakra changed, and Naruto could feel his eyes beginning to shift in color, but with supreme will he forced them to stay their natural blue, even as he drew upon the alien chakra. Then he formed the final seal, releasing all that tremendous chakra in one moment as he shouted, "Mass Shadow Replication Technique!"

Even before the words had faded, Kakashi was on the ground, pinned by one of his guards, and the other guards had formed a tight, defensive circle around the prisoner. Despite their quick reaction, even they then hesitated as they saw the threat that faced them. The street in both directions and all the rooftops surrounding them were completely covered by a sea of hundreds or even thousands of orange-clad ninja.

A roared "Listen up," came from over a hundred throats. "Give me Kakashi-sensei and nobody has to get hurt!" The Storm guards only tightened their defenses and waited without responding. They knew that a disturbance of this magnitude would bring massive reinforcements in a matter of moments.

Before those moments were up, the entire assemblage of shadow clones suicidally charged in one massive wave. The sheer weight of their bodies pushed the guards apart, breaking their circle and separating them from their comrade pinning Kakashi. Lightning glowed in that man's hands, enormously destructive blasts fending off the countless Naruto converging on his position. The other guards were carving similar swathes through the horde, but the numbers of the attackers seemed undiminished.

Still, they receded. "You're going to regret this," the multitude stated, and then they vanished in a massive wall of white smoke.

The Cloud guards' attention, though, was all on the even larger pillar of smoke rising from the mountainside above the Raikage's palace, and the terrible form that was revealed as it faded. "That's -" one guard began.

"Impossible," another said.

"Clearly not," the guard holding Kakashi said as he forced his prisoner to his feet. "Squad two, head there immediately. We're going to need every strong ninja to hold off the Kyuubi until Kaida-sama and Raikage-sama can prepare a response."

There was a moment of hesitation, then the nine-tailed beast roared as if to punctuate the leader's command. Then four of the Cloud stated, "Yes, Zeshin-taichou," in unison before vanishing.

Naruto took a nervous breath. Now the tricky part began. It was only a matter of time before the Cloud realized that instead of the demon, it was only another of his clones and Gamabunta pretending to threaten the village. He was going to have to move quickly. His hands forming a single seal, he transformed into the by-now familiar disguise of a genin Cloud kunoichi.

"All right," Zeshin ordered the remaining three ninja, roughly pushing the silent Kakashi in front of him. "Let's get this scum to the hospital. Loose formation; there's no telling what else might happen." They began to move quickly down the remaining handful of blocks to the hospital.

They were almost halfway there when almost a dozen Naruto burst from a side street, charging directly at Kakashi. Two guards moved to intercept, quickly dispatching the clones, but yet another clone jumped down out of a nearby tree, flying straight for Kakashi and Zeshin.

Before he could reach his target, the real Naruto, still disguised, intercepted the clone, plunging a kunai into its back. As the smoke faded, he landed next to Zeshin, carefully not paying attention to Kakashi. "W-what's going on?" he asked nervously, glancing up at the nine-tailed fox menacingly hovering over the city. Thankfully, the Cloud seemed to be waiting for the monster to advance, rather than immediately attacking, and Naruto's deception remained undetected.

Zeshin hesitated before answering. "A rescue attempt on this man," he said. "That was good work, girl. What's your name?"

"Nadeshiko," Naruto answered smoothly, knowing that Naru was too close to his own name to use in this situation.

"All right," Zeshin said loudly to his men. "Let's get Sharingan Kakashi to the hospital before anything else happens. We'll secure a room there and wait for reinforcements."

Naruto made himself take a seemingly involuntary step away from his teacher. "He's the Sharingan Kakashi?" he asked, letting more than a little fear into his voice.

"Don't worry," Zeshin said. "He's got so many drugs in him I doubt he's noticed a thing." Kakashi indeed seemed disturbingly unperturbed by what had been happening all around him. "Let's go!" he shouted again, and his men began to move.

"Can I help?" Naruto asked, glancing again at the ominous form of the Kyuubi.

Zeshin grinned. "I don't blame you for not wanting to fight that, Nadeshiko-chan," he said. "Stick close to me."

"Thank you," Naruto said, then let out an embarrassed squeak. "I mean -"

"I understand," Zeshin said with another laugh. The remaining hundred or so feet to the hospital passed uneventfully. Once inside, Zeshin snapped rapid orders to the staff, demanding a secure room be prepared immediately. His men he positioned at the entrances to the hospital. Naruto stuck close behind the man, as he had ordered, and Zeshin made no move to dismiss him even when he followed him into the secure room.

Zeshin breathed a sigh of relief as the heavy door shut behind him. He released Kakashi, almost gently pushing the prisoner forward toward a cot set up in the center of the room. "I wasn't expecting that much," he said. "Your boy's even trickier than Junhime said, Hatake."

"Damn straight," Naruto growled as he shoved a kunai into the Cloud ninja's back. The man shuddered and collapsed, but Naruto paid no attention, racing over to his teacher. "Kakashi-sensei!"

Some awareness seemed to have returned to the Leaf jounin. "Naruto."

"We don't have time to waste," Naruto said quickly. "We need to get out of here fast."

"We can't fight a whole village," Kakashi said, disturbingly calm.

"We won't have to," Naruto said. "We just have to make it to the Temple. Then you can ask for sanctuary. Once Ero-sennin gets back, I'm sure we'll be able to find a way to smuggle you out of the country."

"That's easier said than done," Kakashi said, "but I suppose your… distraction could suffice." He shook his head. "What a crazy plan," he continued, "but I think it could have actually worked."

"You saw?" Naruto asked. "But the Cloud guy said -"

"The boy's right about one thing, Hatake," came Zeshin's voice from behind. Naruto's eyes darted to the man's corpse, only to see his kunai sticking out of the cot's thin mattress. "We don't have any time. Unless that really is the Kyuubi out there, we're going to have a lot of company here pretty quickly. We need to be done five seconds ago."

Kakashi nodded, and Naruto took a step away. "What's going on?" the genin asked.

The gray-haired jounin wordlessly peeled away the seal covering his Sharingan like the powerless scrap of paper it actually was. Naruto wasn't able to make himself look away from the crimson eye as the three extra pupils began to whirl slowly. "Sleep," Kakashi commanded gently.

And Naruto slept.

* * *

Jiraiya didn't bother looking up as the five ninja encircled his campsite. He'd known they were coming. He'd first noticed them trailing him several days ago, and after determining that he couldn't shake them he'd decided that it was best to face his pursuers at a time and place of his choosing. Here, far from any village, he could fight without fear of being interrupted or endangering innocents.

He'd originally thought of making a run for the Cloud Village, but the size and composition of the party pursuing him warned against that. There was no telling how high Akatsuki's corruption went and how much of the Cloud might rally behind Kaida's apprentice instead of the High Priestess herself if it came to that. Kaida had told him that Junhime was well-connected with the Raikage, and the implications of that given what he now knew were more than a little disturbing.

"Sinobi Junhime, I presume," he said, standing and facing the lone woman of the five ninja. The remainder were not only Storm, but clearly not rookies in the special forces. It seemed far too likely that even he might die here if luck didn't flow his way.

"You guess correctly," Kaida's apprentice stated. Her stance was casual-seeming, but there were no weaknesses in it. "It's a honor to at last meet the legendary Toad Hermit."

"I'm sure," Jiraiya said dryly. "I assume it was my sloppiness checking after Sotaru-kun that alerted you?"

"Yes." Junhime grimaced. "I was a little sloppy there, too."

"Indeed," Jiraiya returned. "At least I have the softheartedness of my old age as an excuse."

Junhime almost smiled. "Shall we begin, then?" Her men fell into ready stances.

"I suppose so," Jiraiya said, wisps of chakra gathering in one hand. "I've been meaning to start thinning the numbers of your organization for a while now."

"I'm glad that we've been such an inconvenience to you," Junhime said, slowly drawing a kunai.

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed, his head glancing from side to side to track Junhime's allies. This was going to be more than a little tricky, wasn't it?

In a blur of motion, Junhime attacked, shouting, "Die, Akatsuki scum!"

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings

1) Well, that's a fun place to end a chapter, isn't it? Answers are forthcoming next chapter, for those who may be confused. For those who aren't confused I can only hope that you're going "Oh wow, it all makes sense," and not "Oh wow, that's stupid."

2) This took a bit longer than I was hoping, but such is life. I'm still on track to have this story completed by the end of the year. At the moment, I anticipate three more chapters and an epilogue. Then, quite possibly, a one-shot sequel set around a year after this story.

3) I tried to work in a good general sense of the situation in the Leaf Village in the wake of the Mist attack without resorting to a big expository council scene where everything was explicitly talked about. I hope I succeeded.

4) To address something that I think might come up regarding Sakura's mother's letter: yes, her actions over the years were not terribly well thought out and her reasoning isn't terribly clear. That's deliberate. Partly, that's because that's the sort of person Haruno Amaya was. Partly, it's because the letter, while generally truthful, is not the whole truth, but only the part of it Amaya wanted her daughter to know.

5) As always, I appreciate any and all comments on the chapter and the story in general. My thanks to everyone who commented on the draft sent to the FFML.

6) Next time, in One Hundred Days Chapter 14, The Darkest Hour: At home, Sakura does a lot of thinking and makes some important discoveries as many of her friends and teachers head to war. The situation in the Cloud Village explodes as the Akatsuki member hiding there is revealed. The Akatsuki aren't the only ones interested in Naruto, though…

Draft Started: August 13, 2006  
Draft Finished: September 27, 2006  
Draft Released: September 28, 2006  
Final Released: October 07, 2006


	15. Chapter 14: The Darkest Hour

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 14: The Darkest Hour

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, Japanese dwarf flying squirrels!

* * *

**Day Eighty-five**

The cave would have been a gold mine to a student of esoteric ninjutsu. Barely visible in the darkness, strange characters even more arcane than those used in more common techniques had been carved out of the stone. An accomplished expert, trained in the standard methods and practices, could have worked for years before uncovering the purpose of the markings, something that the theories he or she would have studied held was impossible. Impossible, that expert might have concluded, was not a word in Akatsuki's vocabulary. It was difficult and dangerous for Akatsuki to meet in person, and so they developed a way around that inconvenient fact.

The stillness of the empty cave was disturbed as incredible amounts of chakra flowed along the carved characters. Two fuzzy images of men in Akatsuki's distinctive cloaks appeared near the center of the cavern. They waited for some time, but then the larger snorted loudly before speaking, his voice oddly distorted by the technique that allowed him to appear here, far away from where his real body waited. "It figures, Itachi-san. She wants us to check in with her, but she can't be bothered to show up."

The speaker's companion didn't stir, nor did he speak in response for almost a minute. Then, when an image of a woman wearing the same cloak as the two men appeared before them, he broke his silence. Unlike the two of them, the forehead protector she wore was unmarred. "You're late, Kaida-san," Itachi stated flatly, no sign of irritation in his voice.

Perhaps the woman rolled her eyes, but it was impossible to tell through the distortion caused by the technique. "There are disadvantages as well as advantages to remaining in a hidden village, Itachi-kun," she said. "I cannot merely drop whatever I am doing when you request my presence."

"You're the one who wanted us to check in with you," grumbled Itachi's companion. "We told you when we'd be arriving in Lightning Country."

"I'm afraid an emergency has arisen, Kisame-kun," Kaida said. "The Kyuubi has escaped my control, and I am forced to deal with it."

Even through the distortion, it was easy to see Kisame baring his teeth. "That's unfortunate for you," he said. "I'm not happy about coming all this way for -"

Itachi raised a hand, silencing his partner. "Such a failure is unlike you, Kaida-san."

"Let's just say that I put too much trust in one of our comrades' work." Kaida paused. "If you see the art freak before me, tell him that I would have words with him about the loyalty of his agents."

Kisame laughed nastily. "Which art freak?" he asked. "We've got two of them now, remember?"

"You know who I mean," Kaida snapped, "or you would if you had any sense."

Kisame shrugged. "I doubt we'll see him anytime soon," he replied. "Last I heard, he was locked up playing with that slaver woman the new kid gave him." He laughed again.

"What is the current situation?" Itachi asked quietly.

"The boy is being held by a rogue faction of Storm somewhere inside the Cloud Village," Kaida replied. "I have enough control of the situation that he can't leave, but they're keeping him well-hidden."

"I suppose we'll just have to show up and start killing Storm," Kisame proposed. "Should be fun."

Kaida ignored him, focusing on Itachi. "I suggest you make haste. I expect Jiraiya-kun to return soon, and that will make things difficult."

"We'd best not attract attention, even so," Itachi responded after a moment. "Four days."

"Very well," Kaida said. "I'll try to keep things under control until then."

"What of your partner?" Itachi asked. "Can we expect his support as well if it comes to violence?"

"That mercenary bastard?" Kaida replied, snorting. "I've no idea where in the world he is."

"I see," Itachi said. "In four days, then."

A few moments later, the cave was empty and dark once more.

* * *

Midori knew that she was dreaming. How else could she have found herself once more only five years old? She stood outside the familiar door of her family's home, near the center of the Haruno Clan's small, walled compound on the outskirts of the Hidden Village of the Mist. She was too young to comprehend the reasons for this, too young to realize that all clans did not segregate themselves so strictly from the rest of the village. She was too young to know the reasons for what she was about to overhear, either.

In one tiny hand she clutched a piece of paper, the force of her grip needlessly crumpling it. She had forgotten what it was in the years since, but that detail had never left her. Curiosity made her want to look, but instead she merely walked forward, idly practicing moving without sound like her teacher had been teaching her. Her more-skilled mind picked out the countless errors and missteps she made, but she knew all too well that the two inside were much too distracted to notice even a novice like she had been. Her free hand went carelessly toward the door, as though she was unaware that it would freeze in mere moments at the sound of her name coming through a cracked-open window.

It was her grandmother's voice, and Midori had wondered whether she was discussing a birthday present for her, and thus she crept closer to listen, squatting under the windowsill. Maybe they would get her a baby brother like her best friend had gotten, she had thought, and now Midori wanted to laugh at how oddly appropriate that inane wish had been.

"There's no doubt, then?" her mother asked, a strange tone in her voice that Midori hadn't recognized.

"None," her grandmother said firmly. "She learned the Gaze of Binding just from watching her teacher perform it once." Midori grinned proudly at that, but her expression faded as the old woman continued. "She might have just been a genius, but she wasn't able to explain how it worked, even at the level a girl of her age might be expected to. We believe her use of the seals was just mimicry of the physical motions."

"I expected as much," Midori's mother said. "Damn Amaya."

"Shizuru-chan," the older woman said flatly. "There's no guarantee that her child would have been any different. We knew we were taking a risk with this pairing, and there's little practical difference between your blood and hers."

"So?" Midori recognized the anger in her mother's voice and shrank back. "If she hadn't run off to avoid this marriage, it would be her life being ruined by your stupid mistake!" At the time, Midori had been merely confused, but now she knew too well the meaning of her mother's words.

"That's uncalled for," Midori's grandmother stated. "Amaya-chan is on a mission of vital interest to the Mist Village."

"As you say." There was a long pause, then the younger woman spoke again. "What is to be done?"

"Hmm." There was another pause, and Midori could easily imagine the old woman calmly sipping tea before laying out her granddaughter's future. "Midori will be sent to the ninja academy once she's old enough, of course." Midori had been overjoyed to hear that, her excitement cutting through the clouds of confused fear the rest of the conversation had raised. "Those hypocrites on the village council will want her strength to be used."

"Idiots," her mother snarled. "A generation ago they would have been wise enough to order the infection eliminated." Now, Midori knew just what her mother was advocating, and hot rage boiled inside her. It was her parents' fault that she was born with such cursed genes. Why should she pay with her life for their faults?

Her grandmother made a noncommittal, wordless sound of almost-agreement before speaking. "There are precautions that we can take," she said, "to insure that no youthful indiscretions on your daughter's part will spread the taint." She sighed. "As you know, that sealing unfortunately requires that a close blood relative perform it. I -"

"No," Midori's mother interrupted firmly. "I will do it."

"Are you sure? You will have no difficulty?"

"Absolutely," Midori's mother said, then she laughed bitterly. "You need not worry that a mother's love for her child will spare her," she promised, and even then Midori had heard the terrible honesty in her voice, and at that she burst into tears.

Then, Midori was older, less than a year before she began her studies at the Hidden Mist's ninja academy. Tears still streamed down her cheeks, but for a different reason. She knew without even looking around that this was the day the increasingly bold taunts and jeers of the other youth of the Haruno Clan had turned into open violence. It had started during taijutsu practice, when one of the boys had, perhaps accidentally, hit her a little harder than he should have. The second blow, before the teacher moved to end the spar, had definitely not been an accident. Nor had it been accidental when he and his friends had shoved her into a tree at lunch.

Any other illusions she might have had would have been destroyed after classes ended, when what seemed like all the children around her age had ambushed her halfway home. Thanks to quick thinking and clever use of the half-learned Replacement Technique - she had known better than to use the doujutsu that came so easily to her - Midori had managed to get away with just bruises and cuts, rather than more serious injury.

Knowing that she'd get little sympathy when she arrived home, she'd instead made for one of the places where a small child could slip outside the walls of the Haruno Clan's compound and headed for a nearby grove of tall trees. Best to get the tears out of her system, she knew, her hands going to rub at her watery eyes. "I won't let this happen again," she promised herself as she stood on unsteady legs. "I'll get stronger, until I can beat all of them up."

"Beat who up?" an unfamiliar voice said, and Midori looked up to see a strange girl around her age standing in a tree overhead.

Midori leapt to her feet, backing away cautiously. "Who are you?" she asked.

The other girl jumped down to stand before Midori. "Ren," she answered. "Shimano Ren." She grinned. "What's yours?"

"…Midori." She rubbed at her face, trying to wipe away the tears.

"Are you going to go to the ninja academy next year?" Ren asked. Midori nodded cautiously, and Ren's grin widened. "So am I. Want to be friends? My family just moved here from the clan's island, so I don't know anyone."

At the time, Midori had eagerly accepted, old enough to suspect that friends would be in short supply at the academy. Now, Midori wanted to snort. The Shimano Clan hailed from the islands of the Water Country's east, and it was likely that Ren had never heard of the Haruno Clan or its shame. If Ren had known as much then as she knew now, would she still have become her friend? Likely not. Maybe even now she only stuck to it because of habit and to keep the team functioning well.

And Saburo… abruptly, Midori was in the academy, listening in disbelief to his apology for a rather cruel prank she'd almost forgotten. Even then, she had thought it likely that he was doing it to try and get in Ren's good graces - the other girl's almost-forbidden association with "the Haruno girl" having bizarrely made her more interesting to the boys, though that earned Midori herself precious little goodwill with most of them, much less the other girls. Or maybe it had been the fact that the class had started studying genjutsu, a subject Midori easily aced, and that Saburo direly needed help in.

One way or another, at the time Midori had been willing to overlook that, for just as she had expected when she met Ren friends or even mere friendly acquaintances were hard for her to make. Now, she could see Saburo's discomfort and fear. She could see the way he tried to not look at her eyes, hear the unspoken question he so direly wanted to ask. "Do you really have a Bloodline Limit like they say?"

Mitarashi Kimi was the first Mist ninja she had met who had actually asked her that question. It had been oddly satisfying to have it out in the open for once, even though both of her teammates had been horrified that their teacher would ask such a thing. Midori had wanted to laugh at their fear that she would be offended. The unspoken assumption that she was a freak that so many had was vastly worse than actually being asked about it.

The dream continued, though less coherently. Oddly detached, Midori floated through event after event, revisiting the countless times when those sub-human bloodline freaks and the idiots in the Mist Village's cowardly fear of them had ruined her life. Yet, as those events danced around her, it was to one fact that her scattered thoughts return to, the puzzle she had pieced together over the months since her teacher and Ren had returned from their mission into the Fire Country.

Haruno Amaya was her aunt, the one who her mother had said was supposed to have married her father. It was Amaya's daughter who should have paid the price for the idiocy of that decision. It was Haruno Sakura who should have suffered like she had suffered.

"I can give you the power you desire," Orochimaru had told her, his voice seductive despite - or perhaps even because of - its sinister malevolence. "The power to right all the wrongs you have suffered. The power to avenge yourself on those who made you suffer." His words sounded in her ears, even in the midst of her dreams, the painful images fleeing before them and the dark, burning feeling that followed. "I will unlock your true potential, and under my guidance you will show them all a strength far greater than that which they hoped to enslave."

As the words faded, Midori found herself back in the infamous ninja's throne room. Her teacher, who had had an oddly thoughtful look on her face after her private conversation with their host merely looked at her, not offering any guidance one way or another. After a long moment, Midori had stepped forward, asking, "What must I do?"

Both she and Orochimaru had ignored Saburo's quiet, nervous warning, and the Sannin had stood. "Merely take my hand," he said. Once more, Midori reached forward to grasp the offered hand, and once more painful, cleansing darkness consumed her.

And then she awoke, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. She sat up in the bed she found herself in, her head strangely clear and empty. Unthinkingly, she raised her right hand, staring at the three interlocking black rings on its back that she had somehow known were there. She could feel the power sleeping in the seal, but there was no sense of urgency to test it.

Her stomach rumbled, and and it was like a cloud had lifted. A dreamlike detachment she hadn't realized still existed faded with the remaining wisps of her odd dreams, and she forced herself out of bed. A change of clothes was neatly folded on a nearby table, and she quickly dressed. She found her packs carefully lined up along the closest wall, and brief search confirmed that nothing was missing, even the weapons.

After arming herself, her hand hovered briefly over her forehead protector, which had been positioned next to the clothing. Then it jerked away. What had the Mist Village ever done for her, to deserve her loyalty? The thought was liberating, and Midori wanted to laugh. The dark markings on her hand itched, and she scratched at them with her other hand for a moment.

Then, without giving herself time to think the matter through further, she grabbed the forehead protector and flung it aside. It landed with a loud clatter, and now Midori did laugh. What a pointless action that had been, but it felt good.

There was a quiet knock on the door to the room, and Midori started before saying, "Come in."

The door swung open, revealing the strange, young medical ninja who had brought her to the Sound Village. "Ah, so you are awake then," Yakushi Kabuto said. "For a while there I was afraid you wouldn't make it, even with my help."

Midori's eyes went to her bed. "How long?"

"You've been in and out of consciousness for a week," Kabuto said.

"Mitarashi-sensei?" Midori asked. "And Saburo?"

"Your teacher woke up almost three days ago," Kabuto said. He smiled slightly. "Saburo-kun has been very worried about both of you."

"Where are they?"

"Eating lunch, I imagine. I will take you to them after a medical checkup. Purely routine." The medical ninja's eyes glanced aside, and Midori's followed them to rest on her discarded forehead protector. "I see," Kabuto said after a moment, one hand adjusting his glasses. "Should I fetch you a new one, then?" he asked almost casually, his hand raising slightly to brush the musical note on his own forehead protector.

The idea was strangely attractive, and Midori's left hand moved to massage the dark markings on her other hand. "Perhaps," she said after a moment. "If everything proves as was promised."

Kabuto's smile didn't fade. "After you meet with your teammates, I will take you to the training hall and let Tayuya-chan or Kidoumaru-kun help you learn about your new seal. You'll find that Orochimaru-sama keeps his promises." He adjusted his glasses again. "And after that, I believe there is a mission that you will find… interesting."

"Perhaps," Midori said again, but then her stomach rumbled once more, and she laughed awkwardly. "You said something about lunch, Kabuto-san?"

"Of course," the medical ninja said smoothly, his smile widening. "Right this way."

* * *

Sakura sighed as she locked the door to Naruto's apartment. The rather brutal sparring session with Tsunade had served its intended purpose, and she had managed to find the time after the Hokage had dismissed her and Shikamaru yesterday afternoon to train some and get herself back into practice. She still felt sore, both from that training and the spars, but it was a good kind of sore, and the physical discomfort was usefully distracting.

She was getting better at dealing with what had happened, and she knew that it was a mark of significant progress that she could even think about it in terms of "getting better." Still, her mother was not a subject she wished to dwell on, and when her mind wandered it rebelliously sought out those dark and treacherous paths. Even physical pain was welcome when it brought with it an escape from that destructive journey.

Sakura shook her head firmly. Musing about how awful it was when she let herself linger too long on that was almost as bad as thinking of her mother's death itself. After checking the door to make sure her thoughts hadn't distracted her from locking it, Sakura turned about and headed for the stairs.

As was usual lately, she passed several of her neighbors on her way down. As was also sadly usual, their inexplicable hostility was obvious, and as always Sakura had to conclude that it had something to do with Naruto. Anko had told her that there might be some problems because she could summon snakes, but when she thought back to her rare interactions with her neighbors before the exams she recalled much the same sort of reaction.

Her mind welcomed the mystery, unconnected with any of her own problems, and she considered it as she walked down the street, giving the owner of the Ichiraku a distracted wave as she passed. It was a fact that Naruto was incredibly annoying, but his usual antics seemed unlikely to have generated such deep animosity that it would carry over so strongly to his teammate who was merely borrowing his apartment It had to have been something much more serious, to cause such a hatred.

She had hated Naruto once, but that was a different sort of hate that hardly deserved to have the same word applied to it. The hatred of her neighbors for Naruto was a darker thing, the sort of thing that belonged to those who had truly been wronged, not merely driven insane by Naruto's usual idiocy. Yet it was hard to imagine Naruto doing such a thing. Even at his most annoying, Naruto had never, so far as Sakura could recall, actually hurt anyone with his pranks or other bad behavior.

Sakura bit at her lip in thought as she turned down the road toward the ninja academy. Assuming for the moment that Naruto had done something so hateful, as unlikely as it seemed, it had to have been before they were teammates. Sakura couldn't imagine that she wouldn't have heard of such a thing. It probably couldn't have been while they were at the academy either. The punishment for a deed so terrible would have been memorable, and noticeable even if it wasn't made public for some reason. Even had she been doing her best to ignore everything concerning Naruto - a not uncommon thing in those days - Sakura could not have missed something so big.

But what could a child too young to have even entered the academy done? Nodding to herself in satisfaction, Sakura discarded the idea that Naruto had actually done something to deserve the animosity of his neighbors. It just didn't fit. But then, why?

The answer leapt at her, blindingly obvious thanks to her own problems. If Naruto himself was not the cause, it could very well be his family. She knew Naruto was an orphan, and had been as long as she had known him. She had never heard of an Uzumaki Clan or family beyond Naruto himself, but that meant little. There were numerous small clans and smaller families of ninja that were affiliated with the Leaf Village, enough that there were likely dozens she had never heard of. For most of her life she had thought the Haruno such a family, consisting of only two living members.

If Naruto were the son of some infamous traitor like Orochimaru, it would explain everything. Sakura wasn't able to stop herself from giggling at the ludicrous idea of Orochimaru himself being Naruto's father - it wasn't like she knew what clan the renegade Sannin hailed from, after all. Then her mirth faded, as it was all too easy to imagine how terrible it would be to be Orochimaru's son. Even as unlikely as that was, it seemed perversely plausible.

As she entered the academy grounds, Sakura put the puzzle of Naruto's family firmly out of her mind. There would be time to think more on that later, but now was not the time. She nodded at Shikamaru, who apparently had been loitering in the surprisingly calm academy ground for her to arrive. They entered the building together, the ANBU guards barely giving them even a cursory glance.

When they entered the Hokage's borrowed office, Tsunade wasn't there. Instead, it was Shizune who sat behind what had been the headmaster's desk, and for the first time since Tsunade had taken possession of it, its surface was not covered by piles of paperwork that needed attention. "The war force left the village late last night," Shizune told the two chuunin without preamble.

"Hokage-sama is with them?" Shikamaru asked.

Shizune nodded. "Of course."

"So what do you want us to do?" Sakura asked.

"I'm going to put you two to work on some more independent projects," Shizune answered. "I don't see a need for chuunin to waste their time running my errands in this situation." She opened a desk drawer, pulling out a few pieces of paper. "Shikamaru-kun, I want you to start piecing together exactly what the Mist did while they were inside the village. You'll have access to the relevant raw reports."

She pushed the papers forward, and Shikamaru cautiously took them. "Isn't it a little unusual for a single chuunin to be given this sort of job?" he said as he skimmed the pages.

"Yes," Shizune said flatly, and Shikamaru grimaced.

"What about me?" Sakura asked after a moment.

"Back during the Sand attack," Shizune said, "one of the storerooms for the archives got hit, and there was more damage just now. Nobody's gone through everything yet to sort it out and figure out what was damaged or destroyed." Shizune paused. "Part of the reason is that someone with really broad security clearance should do it, and all those ninja have been busy with more important matters."

"I don't have that sort of clearance," Sakura said.

"No," Shizune agreed, "but if there'd been time for Tsunade-sama to formally name you as her apprentice you would." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't bother to comment. "It's expected that you'll be exposed to a lot of material above your usual clearance." She sighed. "Even so, there's a lot of stuff in there that you shouldn't read, but compromises have to be made. I'm trusting you not to get curious and read too much and to be discreet about what you do read."

"I understand," Sakura said.

"I'll go over with both of you what you'll need to know privately," Shizune said. Before she could continue, there was a quiet knock at the door. Shizune blinked. "Come in."

Sakura glanced backward to see the vaguely familiar sight of Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, the two advisers Tsunade had inherited from the Third. For a moment Sakura thought she saw something odd in the way they looked at her, but she quickly dismissed the thought as paranoid.

After a brief exchange of greetings, Homura spoke. "We've come to discuss how we can be of help to you in Tsunade's absence, Shizune-kun."

The young woman nodded. "Thank you." She glanced at Sakura and Shikamaru. "You two wait outside, I'll be with you as soon as I can."

* * *

**Day Eighty-six**

"I still just see why you couldn't just have told me what was going on instead of putting me to sleep," Naruto grumbled.

Hatake Kakashi, once more masked and using a Leaf forehead protector to cover his Sharingan, almost sighed. "There wasn't any time, Naruto. Kaida was already on her way to the hospital, and there was no way we could have fought her there and then." The two Leaf ninja were in a Storm safehouse deep in one of the poorer civilian districts of the Cloud Village, one that Kiyomura Zeshin had assured them would be a safe haven.

The former Storm ninja himself was also there, though he kept mostly to himself and gave little sign that he paid more than cursory attention to his guests' conversation. He too had not left the building since Naruto had awakened, claiming that it wouldn't be safe for him to be seen either. He judged it too likely that Kaida had guessed his involvement in the plan to remove Naruto from her control.

Naruto gave the Cloud ninja a suspicious look. "I also don't see how Kaida-sensei could be one of those Akatsuki people. Ero-sennin isn't stupid, and he trusted her."

At this, Zeshin abandoned his pretense of not listening, letting out a bark of laughter. "See, Hatake? He agrees with Junhime-sama and I. The Toad Hermit had to know that he was giving the Kyuubi to Akatsuki by leaving the boy with Kaida."

Kakashi's visible eye glanced sideways at the other jounin. "I still can't believe it," he said, his voice sounding sick.

"You sound like Junhime when she was trying to convince herself that Kaida couldn't possibly have betrayed the Cloud Village by joining Akatsuki," Zeshin said amusedly.

Naruto blinked. "You think Ero-sennin is in Akatsuki? That's insane!"

"Junhime-sama and I have uncovered strong evidence," Zeshin said, "even setting aside that he delivered you to Kaida. Testimony of his captured agents, intercepted communication between him and the High Priestess, and more. What makes you so certain?"

Naruto glanced at his teacher, wondering what he should say. Kakashi's expression showed no answer, and then Naruto realized that the older ninja might not know about his proof. After all, Kakashi had been in a coma at the time. After a brief internal debate, the genin spoke. "Akatsuki has tried to capture me before. Ero-sennin stopped them."

"Internal conflict," Zeshin proposed, but he sounded uncertain. "Our evidence -"

"Evidence," Kakashi interjected, "that could very well have been manipulated by Kaida for exactly this purpose."

Zeshin frowned. "That would imply that she has been aware of our efforts almost from the start."

"It would only have taken one mistake," Kakashi said gently. "You know that. Moving openly against you would have been too dangerous, so instead she took steps to neuter you and turn you against Akatsuki's enemies."

Zeshin shifted in his seat. "Well, we'll know one way or another when Junhime-sama gets back."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "What," he began, only to stop as there was a quick series of knocks on the front door of the safehouse.

After a tense moment, Zeshin nodded, standing and walking over to the door which he unlocked. A man wearing civilian clothes who Naruto didn't recognize came in, carefully shutting the door behind him. "This is Murai," Zeshin said in introduction, "a member of Storm who has been working with Junhime-sama and I for some time."

The man looked slightly uncomfortable, but he said, "Pleased to meet you," before turning to Zeshin. "The situation is pretty bad out there," he said.

"Oh?" Kakashi asked.

"Thanks to the festival, the streets are crawling with Temple guards," Murai said.

Naruto blinked in confusion. "Festival?"

"The anniversary of the First Raikage's ascension is this week," Zeshin explained. His attention returned to Murai. "Did you manage to reach the Raikage?"

Murai nodded, but his face was grim. "He can't do anything openly. Without firm evidence of Kaida's betrayal, moving against her will only spark a civil war, particularly with all the pilgrims flooding the city." His frown deepened. "She's openly accused you and Junhime-sama of being Leaf agents, and my bosses are starting to suspect the existence of our little group. They're likely to start an investigation, and this place won't be safe for you much longer."

"Damn it," Zeshin snarled.

Murai glanced at Naruto and Kakashi for a moment before speaking again. "There's also news," he said slowly, "from the south."

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed. "What?"

"War," Murai said flatly. "The reports are confused, but it seems that the Mist, Sound, Valley, and Rain are going up against the Leaf, Sand, Grass, and Waterfall."

"The Rain?" Kakashi asked. "Are you certain?"

"That's what the reports say." He shrugged. "I said they were confused, didn't I? Last I heard the Valley and Sound were fighting, but the reports say they're allied now." He sighed. "There's rumors that the Leaf Village itself was attacked again, too."

Naruto paled. Kakashi frowned behind his mask, but after a long moment he spoke. "There's nothing to be done about that now," he said. "What are we going to do if this place is no longer safe?"

Zeshin took a deep breath. "Well, we knew that we couldn't count on Storm staying out of things, and we do have a back-up plan. Murai, I'm counting on you to clean up the evidence here."

Murai nodded. "I'll take care of it."

"And us?" Kakashi asked.

Zeshin grimaced. "We're going to have to hide in plain sight, at least until Junhime-sama returns."

* * *

Sakura wanted to groan as she stared at the piles and piles of boxes piled all over half of the classroom that had been given to her for the project Shizune had assigned to her. She briefly winced as she thought of the poor genin who had carted them all to the academy, but more of her thoughts were on her own plight. For all of Shizune's warnings about classified material, most of the records she had seen thus far were at best only slightly more interesting than watching grass grow.

The worst part was that she'd been sorting all morning, and it looked like she had barely made a dent in the piles. Thankfully, most of the records she'd looked at so far were intact; in that case all that was needed was to scan through the pages quickly to make sure none were damaged or missing, then stack the folder with others of a similar nature. The last task was made easier by the fact that the archives used a simple numerical categorizing system which meant she didn't even need even to skim most of the files.

The handful of damaged files she'd laid out against one wall, making notes of the number of missing or damaged pages. These she had to at least skim, so that she could identify which files loose pages went with. Sakura's eyes swept the row of open folders, wondering whether anybody would notice if the record of gate guard duty for two weeks in the middle of the summer three years ago stayed missing. There couldn't possibly be any reason to look that up, could there?

The pink-haired chuunin's stomach rumbled, reminding her that she'd barely had any breakfast. It was time for her to take a lunch break. Taking another despairing look at the forest of boxes, she slipped out of the room, carefully locking it behind her. The last thing she needed was another lecture on how important those documents were, all evidence to the contrary.

Her route to the exit took her past the open door of headmaster's office, and Shizune looked up from her desk as the younger kunoichi passed. "Going to lunch, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura paused, nodding. "Is that all right, Shizune-sama?"

"Of course." Shizune reached into a desk drawer. "I brought this for you, by the way," she said, pulling out a small book. "Tsunade-sama wanted me to give it to you."

Sakura stepped into the small office, frowning as she accepted the book. "An anatomy textbook?"

"You can't fix what you don't understand," Shizune said. "Read that in your free time and try to have it finished by the end of the week, but it's fine if it takes a little longer."

Sakura nodded firmly. "It won't be a problem." The book wasn't actually that thick, and she'd read much longer things in less time.

"It's not easy reading, Sakura-chan," Shizune said amusedly.

"I know," she replied. "Is that all?"

Shizune frowned. "I suppose so." She paused. "Are you doing okay, Sakura-chan?"

It took Sakura a moment to answer. "I'm doing better," she said honestly, "if I don't think about it too much." She shrugged weakly again. "I guess that's all I can hope for."

Shizune nodded after a moment. "Don't take too long at lunch," she said, and Sakura left, heading for the same restaurant she'd been eating lunch in most days lately, since it was the only one open close enough to the academy. Like usual, there were quite a few ninja eating there for just that reason. Also not uncommonly, she saw Neji and his two unfamiliar new teammates there.

Before she could convince herself not too, she walked over to their table. "Can I speak with you privately for a moment, Neji?" she asked quietly.

His silver eyes looked her up and down, then he nodded. "All right." He stood, murmuring, "Excuse me," to his companions, then followed Sakura outside. "What is it?"

"The report you gave me," Sakura stated. "Thank you."

"It wasn't a problem," Neji said.

"You… won't get in any trouble for showing me that, will you?"

"No," Neji replied after a moment. He hesitated, then added. "Morino Ibiki gave me permission."

Sakura nodded, easily understanding that the interrogator has used an unofficial channel to short-circuit the bureaucratic mess that declassifying the information would be with everyone so busy. "Thank you," she said again. Neji nodded curtly and turned around. After a moment, Sakura followed him inside.

A bit less than an hour later, feeling much better, Sakura returned to the academy. It seemed Shizune was now on her own lunch break, as the door to the headmaster's office was closed. The door to the classroom, she'd been using, on the other hand, was slightly ajar, and she could hear something inside. Instinct taking over, one of her hands went for a kunai as she pressed herself up against the wall next to the door.

There was one person inside, or at least only one making noise, and he or she seemed to not be making an particular efforts to hide their presence. Perhaps Shizune decided to come to check up on her work, Sakura thought, deciding that there was probably no reason to be alarmed. Still, her hand stayed near the hilt of a weapon as she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Instead of Shizune, it was an old man it took her a moment to recognize who was inside, seated behind the desk at the front of the room. "Mitokado-sama? Is there something you need?" the pink-haired girl asked the adviser.

"I suppose so," the old ninja said. "I wanted to talk with you."

"With me?" Sakura said nervously. Almost automatically, her mind conjured up the darkest possible reasons why such a high-ranking ninja would wish to speak with her.

"Yes," Homura said. He sighed briefly, folding his hands in front of his face in a manner that reminded Sakura of Tsunade. "Tell me, Sakura-kun. How much do you know about your father?"

Sakura blinked, one of her hands absently toying with a scroll pouch on the uniform armored jacket she wore, the jacket that had belonged to her father. "He was a Leaf ninja," she answered after a moment. "He… he died shortly after I was born, when the Kyuubi attacked the village."

"Do you know his name?"

"Takeru," Sakura answered, blinking again. She knew that much, even if her mother had never really spoken about her father.

Homura nodded. "His name," he said, "was Mitokado Takeru, and he was my grandson."

Sakura almost stumbled backward, her mind racing at the old ninja's simple words. "He… my father… what?" she asked, unable to believe what she thought her ears were telling her. "But then -"

"Yes," the Hokage's adviser confirmed, glancing away from Sakura. "That would make you my great-granddaughter."

Sakura took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself and make some sense out of this sudden insanity. Her mother had never mentioned this, but there were a lot of things her mother had never told her. When she was younger, she had always assumed that her father had been Haruno Takeru and that her mother had taken his name. The revelation of her mother's history made nonsense of that idea, of course, but this…

"Why?" Sakura asked suddenly. "Why tell me this now?" Her eyes flared briefly. "Obviously you and your clan never cared to claim me before."

Homura nodded. "As much for your benefit as ours," he said calmly. "I thought then, and I still think now, that Mitokado Sakura would not have had a happy life." His face darkened. "Your father was already engaged when he met your mother," he said. "A political marriage, and a very important one. There would not have been a warm welcome in the clan for the illegitimate daughter that threatened to wreck that alliance, much less her foreign mother."

Sakura could almost see the sense in that, too numb from the shock of the old man's sudden revelation to muster any real anger. "But why tell me now?" she asked again.

Homura glanced away again. "I thought," he said after a long moment, "that you deserved to know." Then he sighed. "And also, given the situation, I believe that… should you desire it, the option to become Mitokado Sakura should be open to you." He stood, leaning heavily on his cane. "I will let you think on that, because it is not an easy decision, I know," he said. "When you decide, or if you have any questions," he continued, then trailed off.

"Wait," Sakura said, surprising herself with her calmness. "I can answer now." Homura nodded, but said nothing. "I'll stay Haruno Sakura," she continued firmly. "That's who I am."

Homura nodded. "I expected as much," he said, "but I had to make the offer." He slowly began to head for the door, but he hesitated as he reached it. "Even so," he added, "please let me know if I can do anything to help you."

"I will," Sakura answered after a moment. Homura nodded again, and then he left her alone with the countless boxes of records. Sakura stared after him for some time, then returned to her work.

* * *

**Day Eighty-seven**

It had been well over a decade ago when Jiraiya had first met Kaida, at that time only the apprentice of the High Priest of the Thunder Dragon, rather than the High Priestess herself. He had been chasing Orochimaru, only recently become a missing ninja, but not out of some desperate hope that his former friend could be redeemed. Orochimaru had made it far too clear that was impossible when they'd fought in the forests outside the Leaf Village. The snake master's mocking laughter as he'd kicked Jiraiya's fallen form aside before leaving his teammate behind for dead still sounded in Jiraiya's ears today, reminding him of how little friendship meant to some in this world.

No, Jiraiya had been searching for Orochimaru for a much darker purpose. More than any living person, he knew just how dangerous Orochimaru was, and he had been certain that the renegade ninja needed to be killed as soon as possible. There was only one other person he would have trusted to do the job, but he had not seen her in many years, and so it had come to him to perform the task.

At that time, he had been chasing rumors that the terrible demon fox Kyuubi had been spotted in the wilderness of the northern Lightning Country, but only because he had also learned that Orochimaru sought the monster for some purpose of his own. It was there that he had met Kaida, leading a squad of elite Cloud ninja hunting the same beast, and formed an alliance of convenience.

All save one of her men had died at the hands of Orochimaru when they stumbled across the missing ninja - and disastrously, three other extraordinarily powerful ninja. One of the men in the strange black-and-red cloaks that Jiraiya hadn't then recognized had perished as well, but Orochimaru and the other two had escaped with the body. By the time Jiraiya and his two companions, all badly wounded, had arrived in the Cloud Village, the Kyuubi had begun the rampage that would end months later at the gates of the Leaf Village.

Not too long after that, the war between the Cloud and the Leaf had begun, and the Lightning Country had become an unsafe place for even a former Leaf ninja like Jiraiya had been. Still, he and Kaida had forged a friendship in their journey, and they had kept in touch. Years later, when the suspicions he had of Akatsuki's existence became certainty, she had been the first he had contacted, and they had worked together with other ninja like Iwakuro Hojo of the Rock to counter the mysterious organization's plans, whatever they might be.

It seemed beyond imagining to Jiraiya that Kaida could have joined Akatsuki, but no other explanation for her apprentice's actions and words presented itself to him. Besides, he need only remember Orochimaru's laughter to recall just how easily some could forsake all the bonds that men like Jiraiya found unbreakable. Why should he be so surprised that Kaida had turned out to be among them?

"You seem distracted," Sinobi Junhime said as she sipped a cup of tea.

Blinking, Jiraiya glanced around the common room of the tiny room they had been staying at, glad to be shaken from his dark musings. Once again, he was disguised as a much younger man, seeming closer in age to the woman sitting across from him than to his true age. Yawning, he glanced at the tea sitting in front of him, then downed it in one rude gulp. "You seem surprisingly calm," he told Kaida's apprentice.

Junhime smiled slightly, but there was no mirth in it. "I've had a long time to adjust to the truth of what my teacher is," she said quietly, "and to work through what might happen when she found out I knew. Being declared an outlaw is actually one of the better scenarios, since it implies that she is afraid of me."

"I hate to burst your bubble," Jiraiya said grumpily, "but it's probably more that she's afraid of me."

Junhime shrugged. "I'm perfectly willing to accept that." Her eyes were hard.

"Fair enough," Jiraiya replied. Junhime was actually scarily similar to the Kaida he had first met, and he made a mental note not to let himself start to trust the younger woman like he'd trusted Kaida. For the moment, their goals aligned, and that was all.

Junhime took another sip of her tea. "So, what do you think of the news from the south?" she asked, almost mockingly.

"I can't do anything about it at the moment," Jiraiya said. He sighed. "Tell me again what we're about to go walking into. That's more important right now."

Junhime nodded. She'd sent her men, so far as they could tell still unknown to Kaida, into the Cloud Village to scout and make contact with Junhime's organization inside. "Thankfully, we finally managed to goad your brat into trying to rescue Hatake and got him out of Kaida's hands." She laughed bitterly. "If he was half as stupid as he seemed, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"It might have been wiser to just tell Naruto-kun the truth," Jiraiya observed.

"I was certain Kaida had men watching us when we were together," Junhime responded. "I didn't want to let her know that I knew about her." She grimaced. "Though it seems she has from the start, anyway."

Jiraiya nodded. "It certainly seems that way. I'm worried how many steps in advance she's planned this out, considering that she thought to poison your organization against me years ago."

"I assume that was just contingency planning," Junhime said. "She can't have known that you'd be stupid enough to bring the Kyuubi straight to her." The young woman shook her head. "I don't see how you could ever have thought that was a good idea. That demon killed her teacher, you know."

"I know," Jiraiya said flatly. "I was there when she learned of it."

"And you didn't think she would seek vengeance?" Junhime asked incredulously.

"What worse fate for a creature like the Kyuubi," Jiraiya said, "than to be bound and chained?"

"I suppose," Junhime said. "Anyway, the Cloud Village is crawling with temple guards, and, according to Zeshin, Storm is getting in on the act. He's hiding with Hatake and the brat at an inn in the city, pretending to be pilgrims in town for the Raikage's Festival."

"Like us," Jiraiya murmured.

"Precisely," Junhime said, glancing around the common room at all the travelers eating breakfast themselves. "If all goes well, we can just walk straight through the gates of the city with a big crowd and meet up with them."

Jiraiya stood. "Let's get to it, then."

Fortunately, though one of the gate guards took the pair of disguised ninja aside for brief, perfunctory questioning, they made it into the village without any real incident, and less than two hours later, the man Junhime had introduced as Zeshin, her most trusted ally, was leading them up a narrow set of stairs in a dirty inn to the room where Naruto and Kakashi were waiting.

"Ero-sennin!" the young genin almost shouted as the older man entered the room. "You're…" he trailed off, glaring behind Jiraiya at Junhime as she followed him inside. "You," Naruto stated harshly.

The woman grinned nastily. "Brat," she said, amusement in her voice. "So nice to see you again. Are you really surprised?"

"No," Naruto said, "but I don't trust you."

"Good," Junhime replied. "You shouldn't. Make no mistakes, I'm no more pleased to be working with you three than you lot are to be working with me."

"I trust Jiraiya-sama managed to convince you that he was not a member of Akatsuki," Kakashi said smoothly after an awkward silence.

"If he hadn't," Junhime said, "one of us would be dead."

"You," Jiraiya said confidently. "I could have killed you at least twice before I managed to convince you to stop fighting and listen to me."

Junhime grunted sourly, but it was Zeshin who spoke next. "What are we to do now?"

"We wait," Junhime said simply. "The Raikage's Festival is tomorrow, and tomorrow night we can leave the city with thousands of other pilgrims."

"And what will you do after we're gone?" Kakashi asked. "Zeshin has told us that the Raikage cannot do anything to clear your names."

Junhime grimaced. "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," she said, "but one way or another I will make sure Kaida falls."

* * *

Sakura yawned as she stared at the page in front of her. Of course, it had to be the part of the page where the date was written that had been ripped off, leaving her to determine whether this was the missing weekly budget from three years ago or two years ago from context alone. That involved rather more thinking than she cared to give the matter, but there was no way around it. After checking her careful notes and finding that only one of the missing weeks was in the winter, the rather large outlay of money spent on replacing worn out cold weather equipment was enough for Sakura to put this page in that year's file.

Stifling another yawn, Sakura reached for the next loose page, eyes briefly glancing up and down it. From the format of the page, it was part of an ANBU report, which meant that she wasn't supposed to read it at all, just stick it with the others that would wait for someone who actually had the right clearance to have time to sort through them. She would have done that too, except for one minor detail.

During her brief glance, she had noted the familiar characters of her own name. Unable to stop herself, after glancing at the door to the classroom to confirm it was still shut, Sakura's attention returned to the report, and she began to read.

"Haruno Sakura (Leaf Genin, Registration ID: 012601): Minimal unique information uncovered in debriefing. Subject claimed to have been unconscious for most of the battle against Gaara of the Desert. Analysis of subject's records finds this plausible. Upon indirect prompting, said nothing indicating any knowledge relevant to the unconfirmed Kyuubi sighting; direct questioning on the matter was ruled out per the Third Hokage's special order on the subject."

Sakura blinked several times. What the hell was that about? She could vaguely remember the debriefing after the Sand's invasion during the last Chuunin Exam, and it had seemed fairly standard to her limited experience. But what was that about the Kyuubi? She hadn't heard anything about that demon fox being seen, and hadn't the Fourth Hokage killed it anyway?

Seeking some further information, Sakura quickly read the rest of the page of debriefing reports, but found nothing that explained things further. Then, after debating the matter with herself for a few moments, she checked the file number on the page, found the rest of the folder, and skimmed the rest. Still, she had questions. It seemed that there had been some reports that the Kyuubi had been seen in the forests outside the Leaf Village during the battle, and ANBU had been, understandably, concerned. Yet there was something odd about the… tone of the concern, Sakura supposed.

There was none of the outright disbelief that Sakura would have expected upon receiving reports that a dead demon had been seen. Indeed, from hints in the text Sakura had to conclude that there was some standard plan in place for dealing with such sightings, particularly given the numerous references to the Third's "special order" on the subject. The order was used several times as justification for not actually asking questions about the Kyuubi, but not all the time. After a quick second scanning of the document, Sakura noticed the deciding factor. In every case when the order cut off questioning, the subject had been a younger ninja close to Sakura's own age.

This strange fact paled before the oddest part of the report, though. It seemed that almost everyone who might have been in the forest during the battle had been interviewed by ANBU under the guise of an ordinary debriefing like Sakura, except for one glaring exception. No matter how she looked, Sakura couldn't find any record that Naruto had been questioned. It was vexing, as Sakura was more than a little curious as to just how he had defeated Gaara, and Sasuke's debriefing report simply stated that he had claimed to have not seen most of the battle either.

Sakura forced herself to set that minor irritation aside. When Naruto returned, she would just have to ask him what had happened. What was more important was why ANBU hadn't interrogated him. Sakura poured over the report a third time, searching for some explanation. When she finally found a casual, easily overlooked reference to another report on "the surveillance of Uzumaki Naruto" the folder slipped through nerveless fingers.

ANBU had received reports of a sighting of the supposedly dead demon fox Kyuubi, in the same area that Naruto had been fighting. They had questioned everyone who might have seen the demon, except for Naruto himself. Instead, Naruto had been placed under surveillance. Almost absentmindedly gathering up the fallen papers, Sakura swallowed nervously.

"It must be terrible for you, having to be with that monster," one of Naruto's neighbors had told her once. Sakura roughly shoved the papers back into the folder and shut it.

"I was worried that some of your neighbors might cause trouble, particularly since -" That had been Anko, talking about the dangers of openly displaying knowledge of snake summoning in the Leaf Village.

"The Third Hokage's special order, huh?" Sakura said, her eyes narrowing as she remembered how Anko had said she couldn't talk about whatever she had almost said.

The implications of what she had just uncovered were staggering, but it explained so much. Sakura wanted to laugh at how wrong her conclusion, mere days old, that her neighbors' hatred for Naruto was based on something about his family had turned out to be. It had been the obvious answer, based on her own experience, but it wasn't even close.

Sakura stood. She needed to talk to someone about this, but who? Shizune? She shook her head. The last thing she wanted was to go tell the Hokage's assistant that she'd been reading the ANBU reports despite all those lectures. Anko still couldn't have visitors, or Sakura would have been sorely tempted to go to her. The special jounin obviously knew what was up with Naruto, and would probably not just clam up and say nothing like Shizune or one of the jounin teachers might.

Sakura quietly slipped out of the room, then had to force herself not to creep out of the academy building. It was almost lunchtime, after all, and so it was hardly unusual for her to be heading out. Acting furtive would only attract attention. Fortunately, the ANBU guards at the exit didn't seem to notice anything unusual as she left and headed toward the usual restaurant.

Instead of going inside, though, she simply looked in through the window and confirmed that the person she was looking for wasn't there, then continued on her search. She finally found him lying on his back on the rooftop of a damaged building not far from the academy. He didn't move as Sakura landed on the rooftop beside him.

"Shikamaru-kun," she said after a moment.

The lazy chuunin rolled over on his side to face her. "What?" he asked simply. "Tell Shizune-sama that I've still got half an hour on my lunch break."

"It's not that," Sakura said. "I need to talk to you."

Shikamaru groaned as he sat up. "This sounds troublesome," he said, but he didn't leave.

Sakura squatted down beside him, automatically glancing around to check for eavesdroppers. "I need you to promise not to talk about this to anyone else. Not your family, not Asuma-sensei, not Ino or Chouji. Nobody."

"This sounds very troublesome," Shikamaru corrected himself, but he still made no move to escape the conversation.

"You're Naruto's friend, right?" Sakura asked.

Shikamaru blinked, clearly not expecting the question. "I suppose," he said. "It's always been less troublesome to let him be friendly than to chase him away."

Sakura nodded. That was close enough, from Shikamaru at least. Speaking quickly, not pausing to let the other chuunin interrupt, she explained how she had stumbled upon the ANBU debriefing reports and laid out what they had contained. She carefully avoided mentioning what she thought of the matter, simply repeating the facts. "You're probably smarter than me," Sakura finished finally. "What's your conclusion?"

Shikamaru's eyes were wide. "That's impossible," he said. "Naruto isn't -" He cut off suddenly, his eyes widening. "No way," he said softly.

"Shikamaru-kun?"

"I can't believe I didn't," he began, and then he laughed slightly. "I always seem to miss the obvious when it comes to Naruto."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked.

"Back before the finals of the last exams," Shikamaru said, "Naruto and I were in the hospital and we saw that psycho kid from Sand try to kill Lee." Shikamaru shook his head. "I can't believe we got out of that alive."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I said something about Gaara being as strong as a monster," Shikamaru said, "and Naruto said something like, 'Oh yeah? Well, I've got a real monster inside of me.' At the time I thought he was just being Naruto."

Sakura nodded slowly. "I can see that," she said. "Naruto says a lot of stupid things that don't make sense."

"I still don't see how he could be," Shikamaru began, then trailed off. "I mean, he doesn't act like a demon."

Sakura blinked. "He isn't," she said, and Shikamaru raised a questioning eyebrow. "Like he said, there's a monster inside of him," she continued. The pink-haired girl smiled weakly. "You might be smarter than me, but I study harder. I've never heard of any sort of technique that could change a demon into a human being. Sealing a being of power into a newborn baby, on the other hand…" As she trailed off herself, Sakura's eyes went to the suddenly ominous-seeming stone face of the Fourth Hokage looming overhead, and she wondered just what he had thought would happen to the baby Naruto.

"What do we do now?" Shikamaru asked after a long moment.

"What can we do?" Sakura said. "We go on with our lives, and we don't breathe a word of this to anyone."

* * *

**Day Eighty-eight**

Hiraki Arata grimaced as he carefully poked his head over the top of a ridge a few miles north of the cease-fire line that had cut the Waterfall Country in half for all of his life. He'd operated on this side of the line before, of course. His last posting had even been in a now-destroyed hidden fortress not far from here. However, it was one thing to be on the wrong side of the cease-fire line during the long period of minor skirmishes and raids that had passed for peace with the Hill Country. It was quite another to be here when the full military might of the Hidden Waterfall and the Hidden Valley were arrayed on their respective sides, staring each other down. This was the closest Arata had ever seen the villages come to open war.

The new chuunin's expression only darkened as he stared at the pinpricks of light spread out underneath him, brighter than the fading stars in the pre-dawn sky. Part of his mind automatically started to count the campfires, but he forced himself to stop, knowing that it would be almost as futile as counting those stars.

"So what do you think?" came the voice of his teammate Maya from behind him.

"There's a lot more than the last time we were here," Arata replied as he dropped back behind the ridge.

"Brilliant," Maya said, fake awe in her voice. "I would never have figured that out, Arata-taichou!" Arata's other teammate, Ikkei, snorted.

"Oh, shut up," Arata grumbled. Whose bright idea had it been to make his first job as a chuunin commanding the other two members of his genin team, anyway? That was just asking for all kinds of trouble. Arata snorted himself. Not that he felt particularly competent to be commanding anyone, for that matter.

"So what's the plan?" Ikkei asked after a moment. "Head back and report?"

Arata shook his head. "It could be a trick. Easy enough to light a bunch of extra campfires."

"Even if it isn't a trick," Maya said, "it makes a big difference who those campfires are for. It's one thing if it's for the Hill daimyo's guard forces or even those scum from Sound. It's another if -"

"If it's the Rock," Arata finished, and the kunoichi nodded.

Ikkei shifted. "I see a way to get close enough to find out."

"What do you mean?" Maya asked.

"They have to camp close to a source of water," Ikkei replied. "If we can get to a stream that runs near the camps, I can use my Bloodline Limit and just… flow right through."

"That's dangerous," Maya said.

Arata nodded. "Too dangerous," he agreed. "There's got to be jounin in those encampments, and they probably have set up some sort of protection."

"As you say," Ikkei said after a moment. "But how are we going to find out whether there are Rock ninja down there?"

"Like this?" an unfamiliar voice asked. Arata started, but not quickly enough as a figure began to emerge from the ground, almost at his feet. Snarling, he struck at it with a kunai, forcing the enemy ninja to drop back into the ground. Taking advantage of the moment's respite, he leapt into the air, glancing about to find that his teammates had moved similarly.

On the ridge, three figures emerged from the earth, and there was just enough light for Arata make out the Rock sigils on their forehead protectors. Thankfully, they appeared to be genin, which meant that there was a chance Arata's team might make it out of this alive. As the Waterfall ninja landed at the bottom of the ridge, one of the Rock spoke. "We're going to have to ask you three to come with us."

Arata ignored him, speaking quietly to his teammates. "On three, we split up and break for the cease-fire line." At his companions' quiet nods, he began to count. "One. Two. Three!"

In an instant, they were all moving, Ikkei breaking off toward the left as Maya headed the other way. Arata kept heading straight, wishing he knew some technique to help throw off the pursuit. Ikkei had the best chance of them, he judged, since if he made it to a river or stream he could dissolve into water and effectively vanish, at least from genin like the ones who were chasing them now.

Still, Arata was halfway to the cease-fire line when he first heard the sounds of pursuit behind him. As he jumped over a narrow crevice, a voice behind him called out, "Stop right there!"

Arata spun about in midair, rapidly wrapping an explosive tag around the hilt of kunai and hurling it at the voice. The explosion must have hurt the Rock ninja, as no counterattack followed, but Arata still cursed. Every ninja in the area had to have heard and seen that, and they were all going to be converging on him. His only hope was speed now, and he hit the ground running.

Despite this last effort, he wasn't surprised when the man in a Rock chuunin's uniform rose from the ground in front of him. "That's enough, boy," he told Arata, and with a sigh the Waterfall ninja stopped as two more Rock ninja appeared. "Just calm down and no one has to get hurt," the speaker continued.

Arata judged his options carefully, then raised his hands in surrender.

* * *

Kiyomura Zeshin's eyes narrowed as he watched the small inn from across the street. It was early evening, and the streets were crowded with pilgrims either about to retire tonight or, if their homes were close enough, leave the Cloud Village. The constantly shifting horde of people made tracking any individual almost impossible, but it wasn't individuals Zeshin was looking for. It was a certain order in the chaotic motion, a number of people moving with unified purpose.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing, Murai?" he asked.

The Storm ninja, dressed in civilian clothing, nodded. "That's the inn?"

Zeshin returned the nod. "It looks like Kaida's found them." He grimaced. "I hope those four make it out alive."

"They knew the risks," Murai said, "and Kaida already knew about them. Now that Storm's investigating, the fact that you arranged those orders for them to go with Junhime has to have come out."

"I know," Zeshin replied. "I hate doing this, but if they can distract Kaida's men for long enough, we can get out of here."

"You should get going," Murai said, "and I need to report in to Storm."

"Right," Zeshin said, and the two men casually separated, slipping past the enemy ninja encircling the inn without any incident. Less than five minutes later, Zeshin was in another inn. "It's time," he said without prelude as he slipped into the tiny room where Junhime and the three Leaf ninja were waiting.

"The distraction?" Junhime asked, standing.

"Kaida found them," Zeshin answered. "All hell should break loose any minute now."

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" Naruto asked impatiently, pushing past Zeshin and opening the door. After a moment, the other four followed him down to the inn's common room.

Waiting for them were a dozen men in the robes of temple acolytes. "You're going nowhere," one of them said, holding a metal staff in a ready position. The inn's other patrons were already scrambling toward the exit.

"It looks like you were followed, Zeshin," Junhime said irritably.

"I'm sorry," the other Cloud ninja said.

"Are you going to surrender?" one of the acolytes asked.

"We don't have time for this," Jiraiya snarled suddenly. His hands blurred. "Katon: Fire Dragon Blast!" A jet of flame spurted from his mouth, catching the speaker in the chest and sending him flying into another acolyte. Almost simultaneously, another two acolytes sprouted kunai, slumping to the ground.

"Damn it," Junhime said, "I didn't say you could -"

"We don't take orders from you," Kakashi observed. "Naruto!"

"Right," the genin said, his hands rapidly forming seals. "Mass Shadow Replication Technique!" In an instant, the almost empty common room was filled to the brim with Naruto, and the clones buried the remaining acolytes under them, pouring out of the front door and into the street.

"Out the back way," Jiraiya said, turning around, "while they're busy dealing with that."

As Naruto and Jiraiya followed him, Zeshin glanced at Kaida's apprentice. "Junhime?"

The Cloud kunoichi took a deep breath. "We go with them. We don't really have a choice." She spun about and raced after the Leaf ninja, and Zeshin trailed after a moment later.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Junhime snapped at Jiraiya as they caught up in the alley behind the inn. "Every single ninja anywhere close to here is going to be -"

"Dealing with Naruto's shadow replications," Jiraiya finished for her. "At least for long enough for us to get out of here." He sighed. "There wasn't any way that was going to end peacefully, was there?"

"Probably not," Junhime said. She took another deep breath. "If we're going to do this overtly, let's take to the roofs. We'll move faster that way."

Moments later, they were several blocks away, but their speed didn't help them. Cursing, Junhime came to a stop, glancing around at the three four-man Storm squads that surrounded them.

"Sinobi Junhime," one of the Storm intoned. "Kiyomura Zeshin. In the name of the Raikage and the Hidden Village of Cloud, stand down. If you do, you will be allowed a chance to state your case before the Raikage."

Kakashi laughed. "And what about us, then?"

"What do you think, Sharingan Kakashi?"

"That's quite enough," Jiraiya stated. "If you lot want to live, you'd best get out of our way."

"Even one of the legendary Sannin can't hope to win here," the Storm speaker replied.

"We shall see," Jiraiya said darkly, chakra beginning to spin in one hand.

For several moments, all the ninja stood still. Then, thunder rumbled in the distance, and as though that were a signal the rooftops erupted into motion. Half a minute later, the rooftop the fugitives stood on was starting to burn, set aflame by one of Jiraiya's attacks, and half of the Storm were out of them fight, one way or another. The battle paused briefly, the surviving Storm backing away from the rapidly growing fire.

"I can't believe," Junhime muttered, staring at a bloody kunai in her hand as she trailed off.

"What now?" Naruto asked.

"There'll be more coming," Kakashi observed softly, his breath coming in short gasps. "We can't hold out for long."

Zeshin, clutching at the bloody mess a Storm's weapon had left of his shoulder, grimaced. "Have you got enough chakra to make shadow clones and use the Transformation Technique with them, Naruto-kun?" The boy nodded. "Make copies of everyone else," he said. "I'll stay here and slow them down while you escape."

"But," Junhime said.

"I'm wounded," the now-renegade Storm said unnecessarily. "Better that I slow them down than slow you down." He winced in pain. "Get the brat out of here, so this will be worth something."

"Right," Junhime agreed after a moment. "I… I'm sorry I got you into this." Naruto began to make the clones that would stay behind with Zeshin.

"Just go," he snapped, and several moments later he was alone with the replications, the flames rising higher around him. Then a torrent of water poured over the building, almost knocking him off of it. As the flames sputtered, out, Zeshin saw that another squad of Storm had joined the attackers. As one, the ten Storm converged on Zeshin and the quickly-destroyed clones.

A minute later, all ten were dead. Gasping, Zeshin fell to his knees, staring up at his rescuer. "As you commanded," he managed to say, "I did."

The man in the red and black cloak smiled underneath his bamboo hat. "So you did. You served well."

"What now?"

"Now, there is one more task for you to perform," the Akatsuki member said.

"What is it?" Zeshin asked.

"You have to die."

* * *

Kaida frowned as she glanced at the corpse that lay in the center of the half-burnt rooftop. Cautiously, she approached the corpse, checking for any sign of a trap before pushing it over.

"Damn it," Kaida hissed. This had to be Kiyomura Zeshin, and the way he had died was telling. "It all makes sense now."

"What makes sense, High Priestess?" another voice asked.

Kaida looked up at the four men who just joined her on the rooftop. "Raikage-sama," she said smoothly as she stepped away from the body, "what a pleasant surprise."

The Raikage glanced down at the corpse. "Zeshin," he hissed. "Damn it." He looked back at Kaida. "I was considering grooming him to be my heir," he commented.

"A good thing, then," Kaida replied, "that his treachery was revealed in time."

"That's enough!" the Raikage snapped. "I think all of us here know who the real traitor is." At his word, the three members of his personal guard at his back stiffened, hands going to their weapons.

Kaida straightened. "Interesting," she said. "I thought that you wanted to avoid this."

"I admit," the Raikage replied, "that the fear of civil war has stayed my hand. No longer. This has gone far enough." He gestured back at one of his guards. "Send word that all loyal Cloud ninja are to stand down," he snapped.

The guard nodded, jumping away. Kaida sighed, raising a hand, and a blot of lightning descended from the dark sky toward the airborne figure. There was a crack of thunder when it hit, but a puff of smoke revealed that it was a replication that had been destroyed. "Futile," Kaida said. "I've created enough mistrust and suspicion that he'll never be believed, not soon enough to make any difference." She sighed again. "You've made a terrible mistake." Almost casually, she pulled a Cloud forehead protector out of her robes. She glanced at it a moment, then tied it around her forehead.

The Raikage smiled grimly. "It ends now, Kaida. You're outnumbered, and even if we die your time here is done." His eyes were hard. "The confusion you've created will shelter you for a day or so, perhaps, but the truth will be known."

"Outnumbered, am I?" The High Priestess's hands formed a seal. "Now," she said.

In a blur of motion, one of the Raikage's two remaining guards pulled out a kunai and plunged it into his master's back. As the Raikage stumbled forward, the other guard recovered from his shock and attacked his treacherous comrade. Screaming, the traitor tackled the other guard off the roof, leaving the High Priestess and the Raikage alone.

"Now who has the advantage?" Kaida asked.

"A little wound like that won't slow me down," the Raikage snarled, pulling the kunai out of his back. In a blur of motion, he attacked. Kaida darted back out of the way, but the blade still caught her forehead protector, gouging a line across it. He smirked. "See?"

"Amusing," the High Priestess said. She stood straighter, suddenly seeming taller as electricity began to crackle around her. "But now, Raikage-sama, it is time for you to die."

* * *

**Day Eighty-nine**

"We can't afford to wait any longer," Jiraiya said. "We shouldn't even have stayed this long."

"We agreed that if we got separated this was where we would meet," Junhime said firmly, gesturing at the grove of trees where the four fugitive ninja stood. "My men or even Zeshin could still make it out of the village."

"And you call me stupid?" Naruto asked angrily. "Come on, Ero-sennin. Let's just leave her and get Kakashi-sensei out of here."

"I'm beginning to like that plan," Jiraiya said.

"It's a miracle that we haven't had any problems with patrols yet," Kakashi agreed. "Junhime-san, the meeting time was midnight, wasn't it? We're well past that."

The kunoichi nodded slowly. "Just… give me five more minutes, please. They were my comrades and my friends… I don't want to…"

"I understand," Kakashi said, his voice softening.

Jiraiya sighed, but he sat down, his back to a tree. "If we wind up buried in Cloud ninja out for our blood, don't say I didn't warn you."

Naruto grunted irritably. "I don't see why we should wait any longer."

Kakashi's visible eye wandered over to his student. "What was the first lesson I taught you, Naruto?"

The genin thought for a moment. "The tree-climbing exercise?"

Kakashi laughed. "No, before that. Do you remember the bell test?"

After a moment, Naruto nodded, remembering his teacher's words explaining the reason for the test. "Ninja who don't follow the rules are called scum, but those that don't take care of their friends are worse than scum," Kakashi had told them back then. Could it really have been only around a year ago?

"I understand," the young boy said. He glanced, almost sympathetically, at Junhime before walking over to Jiraiya and plopping down beside him. "So, when are you going to teach me a new technique, Ero-sennin?" he asked.

Jiraiya snorted. "Does he have this much of a one-track mind with you, Kakashi?"

The younger man smiled behind his mask. "Maybe," he said.

"Actually, Naruto," Jiraiya said, serious again, "there's something I want to do. I didn't want to risk it in the village for fear Kaida would detect it."

Naruto nodded nervously. "What is it?"

"Lift up your shirt and channel a bit of chakra," the Sannin ordered, and hesitatingly Naruto complied. An instant later, the boy shivered at the cold sensation of Jiraiya's fingers poking and prodding at the seal that began to appear there. After several moments, Jiraiya stopped, gesturing at Naruto to lower his shirt again. "As I feared," the old man said.

"What is it?"

"That work Kaida was doing," Jiraiya said, "had nothing to do with strengthening the seal. Quite the opposite, in fact."

This statement apparently snapped Junhime out of her worries, as she whirled around to face Jiraiya. "What do you mean?" she demanded. "Why would even Akatsuki want that?"

Jiraiya only shrugged. "I expect Naruto-kun had difficulty keeping the demon in check while training with you," he said.

Junhime shook her head. "None," she replied.

Jiraiya glanced at Naruto, who nodded. "Huh," he said after a moment. "That's very good, boy, but don't get cocky." His eyes were hard. "You can't afford to let your guard down for an instant."

"Always good advice," a weak, familiar voice said from just outside the grove.

Junhime's eyes widened and she spun around again. "Zeshin!"

The former Storm member stumbled into the grove, weakly clutching at his bloody shoulder. "Hello, Junhime."

Jiraiya stood. "How did you survive?" he asked cautiously.

"Not through any skill of mine," Zeshin said ruefully. "I got lucky. Raikage-sama finally decided that Kaida had gone far enough."

"That's wonderful!" Junhime said. "Then we can -"

Zeshin interrupted her with a bitter laugh. "Well, as for that I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that enough of some semblance of the truth has come out that Kaida has vanished and the village council has asked that she be brought before them if found."

"The village council?" Junhime asked softly.

"What's the bad news?" Kakashi said.

"The bad news is that Raikage-sama is dead," Zeshin said, "and the current consensus opinion is that we're responsible for his death." He laughed again. "Things are confused right now, but there'll be patrols out looking for us any minute."

"We need to get moving, then," Jiraiya said. "I doubt we can beat a messenger bird to the border, but I mean to try." He glanced at Zeshin. "If you or Junhime don't know any medical ninjutsu, I'll use a few techniques Tsunade taught me to get that shoulder fixed up at least a little."

Zeshin nodded. "Thank you."

"Zeshin," Junhime said, her voice and eyes distant.

"Junhime?"

"You said that Kaida-sama has vanished?" The ex-Storm nodded at Junhime's question. The kunoichi cursed softly in response. "She is hunting us, for sure."

"Then we should stop standing here!" Naruto almost shouted.

"For once you're right," Junhime agreed. "Jiraiya-sama, can you help Zeshin on the way?" The Sannin nodded. "Then, let's move."

Kakashi took a deep breath. "I don't know if my chakra has recovered enough for this," he stated, "but it's worth a try." Pulling down his cloth mask, he bit at his thumb, drawing blood, then pressed that hand to the ground. "Summoning Technique!" he hissed. There was a burst of smoke, and two large, brown dogs appeared.

"Good thinking," Jiraiya said with a nod.

Kakashi whispered orders to the dogs, who ran off, then the Leaf jounin stood. "They'll trail us and give warning if any pursuers draw near."

"Follow me," Junhime said, and a moment later the grove was empty.

The next hour passed in near silence, almost no words passing between the five fleeing ninja. They made rapid progress, despite Zeshin's wound slowing them, and for a while Naruto actually began to think that they might get away from the Cloud Village without incident. Then, a dog's howl sounded from behind them.

"One person," Kakashi said shortly. There was another quick series of howls, and the Leaf jounin's grimace was visible behind his mask. "A woman. Moving very quickly, perfectly following our trail."

"I suppose we should look for a good place for an ambush," Jiraiya said after a moment.

"No," Junhime said quietly. She hesitated, as all the other ninja looked at her, then took a deep breath and continued. "You can't beat a messenger bird," she said, "but you can beat the forces needed to seal off the border with the Sky Country."

"But not if we all stop to fight Kaida?" Jiraiya asked. "Even against her, the fight won't take that long."

"But it's likely to be loud and flashy, isn't it?" Junhime replied. "Fighting Kaida might not take long, but avoiding all the patrols that are going to converge on wherever we fight will."

"She's right, Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi said after a moment.

Naruto swallowed. "What do we do, then?"

"I stay behind," Junhime said harshly. "I'll at least slow her down and give you time to get away." Her voice softened. "Zeshin -"

"Don't worry," the other Cloud ninja said. "I'll make sure they make it to the border safely."

"Thank you," Junhime said.

"Thank you," Jiraiya echoed softly, looking at Junhime. "Your sacrifice will be remembered in the Leaf Village, at least."

Junhime spat. "Like I want that," she said. Then she laughed. "Then again, I would be dying to help Sharingan Kakashi escape the Lightning Country. Not how I planned on going out." She shook her head. "In any case, I might even win."

I wish you luck, then," Jiraiya said. He glanced at the other Cloud ninja. "Zeshin-san?"

"This way," he said after a moment, and then Junhime was alone, waiting for her teacher to arrive.

* * *

A shower of kunai was the first sign High Priestess Kaida saw that she had walked into an ambush. Casually, she stepped aside, somehow using the red and black cloak she now wore to capture the missiles and send them speeding back toward their source. Her eyes narrowed as no response came, but her suspicion didn't come quickly enough for her to avoid the hands that crept out of the ground under her to grasp at her ankles.

As Kaida's unseen attacker began to pull her into the earth, the High Priestess snarled wordlessly. There was a bright flash of light, and when it faded Kaida stood alone in the center of a wide, shallow crater. Her eyes tracked her foe's path through the air, and she smiled as the other ninja landed lightly before her. "Your dodges are a quick as ever, Junhime-chan," Kaida said lightly.

"Kaida-sama," the other woman murmured. She too smiled, her eyes going to the marred forehead protector Kaida wore. "I see you now openly declare your allegiance."

"I should have expected you to stay behind to confront me," Kaida said. "You've always had a thing for futile gestures."

"We'll see how futile it is," Junhime replied, a kunai appearing in her hands.

"So we shall." Kaida raised one hand, and the dark sky darkening further, the few patches of stars vanishing as clouds raced in to cover them. "Raiton: Lightning Storm Technique," she intoned slightly, not bothering to form any seals.

In less than an instant, Junhime's kunai left her hands, flying at the older woman. Even as Kaida leaned aside to avoid the attack, Junhime crouched down, her hands making rapid sets of seals. "Doton: Lightning Rod Technique!" Thin bars of metal thrust out of the earth surrounding the Cloud kunoichi.

There was a tremendous crack of thunder as countless jagged bars of lightning poured out of the heavens at Junhime, who stayed still in the center of the protective metal bars as the electricity danced around her. "It won't help," Kaida said, raising her hand again. A single bolt of lightning struck at each metal bar, carrying enough power that the thin rods shattered.

"It lasted long enough," Junhime snarled, her hands freezing on a seal. "Raiton: Twin Thunderbolt Technique!"

Kaida didn't even make a gesture, but the two lightning bolts twisted in midair to avoid her still form, blowing open tiny, deep craters when they struck on either side of her. Junhime's teacher smiled. "That level of power won't work on me."

Junhime took a deep breath. "I didn't expect it to," she said, and she suddenly vanished.

"Genjutsu," Kaida hissed, darting aside mere moments before Junhime, her cloaking technique dissolving, thrust a kunai crackling with electricity through where the older woman's back had been. "How pointless," the High Priestess said as she grabbed Junhime's arm.

The young woman's eyes widened as her kunai began to glow brightly, then Junhime screamed as the electricity flowed back into her. Kaida released her student, and Junhime fell backwards, spasming helplessly as she landed on her back. The High Priestess turned away.

"I'm not through yet," Junhime said as she slowly stood, a shaking hand rolling back one sleeve.

Kaida half-turned to face her opponent, then raised an eyebrow as she saw the circle of purple characters encircling Junhime's forearm. "Impressive," she said. "I didn't know you had advanced so much."

Junhime gave her teacher a painful smile as she bit at her thumb, then smeared the blood over the writing on her arm. "One Element Unseal," she hissed. "Lightning!" There was a crack like thunder, and electricity began to crackle around Junhime as she suddenly stood straighter.

Kaida shook her head. "You still do not understand, Junhime-chan. You cannot defeat me." One arm slowly emerged from her cloak, covered almost entirely with purple writing similar to the band that had encircled Junhime's arm. "I have had far longer to seal away excess power and far more power to seal away." Without visible cause, blood began to ooze out of Kaida's arm in a dozen places, filling gaps in the elegant tracery of characters. She gave her student an almost sad smile. "One Element Unseal: Lightning!"

The sheer power that filled the Akatsuki member flung Junhime back, and the younger woman barely managed to keep her feet as she landed. "Damn it!" she shouted, thrusting one arm forward, electricity sparking around it. "Raiton: Thunder Dragon Talons!" Three arcs of electricity sprung from her hand, slicing through the air at Kaida.

Casually, the High Priestess batted the attack aside. "Futile."

Growling, Junhime vanished in a sudden blur of motion, reappearing above and behind Kaida. "Raiton: Lightning Slice!" A blade of electricity sprouted from her hand, aimed at Kaida's neck.

Somehow, the older woman caught the lightning sword with her bare hand. "Futile," she repeated, then she formed a seal with her other hand. Junhime's sword pulsed briefly, then the electricity flowed back into her, and once more she was flung away.

This time, she seemed barely able to rise, but rise she did. "I won't… let you… win," she gasped out.

"My victory does not depend on your permission," Kaida said coldly as she advanced on her student, forming seals with one hand. The night began to turn to day as lightning flashed between the clouds overhead. "Raiton: Breath of the Thunder Dragon," she intoned, a massive ball of lightning forming in the air above Junhime. It hung there impossibly for an instant before descending.

In the mere moments she had to act, Junhime pulled out and unrolled a scroll in one smooth motion, holding it between her and the oncoming attack. "Thunder Sealing Method!" she shouted. There was a blinding flash of light, and when it was passed Junhime stood breathing heavily but unharmed, a massive new character in the center of her unrolled scroll.

"Most impressive," Kaida said after a moment. "That sort of technique isn't meant to be used in battle, though. You won't be able to do it again."

Junhime let out a short laugh, placing the scroll on the ground and crouching down behind it. "That's true," she said, smiling grimly, "but I won't have to." She laughed again. "I thank you for the loan of your power, Kaida-sama," she stated, placing one hand over the center of the scroll. "Unseal," she breathed, and electricity exploded out of the scroll, surrounding Junhime but leaving her unharmed. After taking a deep breath, the young woman began to slowly, deliberately, form a long and complicated sequence of seals.

Kaida's eyes widened. "Impossible," she said. "You aren't at the level to -"

"We'll see about that," Junhime hissed as she formed a final seal. "Raiton: Summoning - Avatar of the Thunder Dragon!" The clouds overhead raced apart, but they revealed no starry sky. Instead it was a bright, electrical glow that filled the gaps, the barest hint of a long, serpentine form visible swimming in it. Grimacing, barely able to control the power she was channeling, Junhime formed another sequence of seals as a massive bar of lightning descended toward her. "Eightfold Heavenly Divination Seal!"

The burst of thunder shook the countryside for miles around, and even Kaida had to stumble backward, raising an arm to shield her eyes from the glow. When she lowered her arm, Junhime stood again, a familiar, glowing pattern visible even through her armored vest for a moment before it faded. "Now," Junhime said, her voice strong once more, "the real battle begins."

After a long moment, Kaida nodded. "So it does."

* * *

The morning sun was just beginning to rise as Hoshigaki Kisame kicked aside the severed head of a Cloud guard that had foolishly tried to get in his way. "One of them got away, Itachi-san," he said.

"No matter," Itachi said flatly. "We won't be here for long." His crimson eyes swept the devastated battlefield.

Kisame took a long look himself, finally resting on the shattered body of a woman in a cloak like the one he wore. "Oh," he said. "It seems Kaida-san finally met her match." Her bared his teeth. "Jiraiya?"

"No." Itachi gestured, and Kisame found another corpse, in even worse shape than his comrade's.

"A Cloud ninja?" Kisame stepped over to the body. "I wonder who she was?"

"It hardly matters," Itachi said, kneeling down beside Kaida. He pried a ring off of her cold fingers, then stood. "We're done here, Kisame."

The shark-like man nodded. "They'll be heading for the southern border," he observed, "with most of a night's head start, it seems." Itachi gazed flatly at his partner. Kisame grinned toothily. "Should be fun, Itachi-san."

"Let's go," was all the Uchiha said, and when Cloud reinforcements arrived only a few minutes later, the two Akatsuki members were long gone.

* * *

**Day Ninety**

"We've been lucky," Kiyomura Zeshin said as he rubbed at his forehead, blinking wearily. "Even as quickly as we're moving, I'd have thought we'd have run into some trouble before now."

"We might have," Jiraiya said, "if Kakashi-kun wasn't scouting ahead."

Naruto yawned loudly. "How much further do we have to go, Ero-sennin?"

"Zeshin-san no doubt knows the area better than I do." Jiraiya glanced at the Cloud ninja - most likely formally a missing ninja by now.

The other man stifled a yawn, perhaps prompted by Naruto's. "All the evasive maneuvering we've been doing has me a little confused," he said after a moment. "And I've been… a little distracted."

Jiraiya's eyes softened. "Were you and Junhime-chan," he began, then trailed off.

"That's not important now," Zeshin said, his voice perfectly flat. Not even a hint of emotion showed on his face. "Nor is it any of your business, Jiraiya-sama."

"I suppose not," the legendary ninja said after a long moment. "There are some matters that are my business, though. You might have been distracted, but you have to have some idea of where we are."

Zeshin nodded. "Unless we got more turned around than I thought, Kakashi-kun should be coming up on the border patrols soon." He paused. "I'm sure he won't have any trouble avoiding their notice and returning to us."

"Most likely," Jiraiya said. "And what are your plans when we reach the border?" He hesitated. "If you wish it, my word could give you a home in the Leaf Village, though it would be some time before you would be fully trusted, of course."

"I'm no friend of the Leaf," Zeshin said. "We merely share an enemy in common." He snorted. "And even with Kaida dead, she had years to recruit willing agents. I doubt the Cloud's ability to keep Akatsuki's hands off of the Kyuubi."

Naruto grimaced. "I'm not -"

"Yes, you are, boy." Zeshin's voice was hard. "So far as I, and most of the world, are concerned. You'd best get used to it. I'm amazed you aren't already, since I can't imagine that many in the Leaf Village feel any differently."

Naruto's expression darkened further, but it was Jiraiya who spoke. "That's enough."

Zeshin smiled mirthlessly. "Of course."

A sudden wind kicked up a cloud of dust and fallen leaves. When it faded, Kakashi stood before the three other ninja. "Jiraiya-sama. We have a problem."

"When don't we?" Jiraiya grumbled. "What is it?"

"I found a Cloud border patrol." Kakashi frowned behind his mask. "They were already dead."

Naruto's eyes widened. "What?" He swallowed nervously. "Was it… them?"

Kakashi hesitated before answering. "No."

"What makes you say that with such certainty?" Zeshin asked.

"It's best I show you," Kakashi said. "Follow me."

A few moments later, they were standing over the bodies of four Cloud ninja. "You see, Jiraiya-sama?" Kakashi asked.

The legendary ninja knelt beside one body, turning it over. "They were all killed the same way. It's a fresh kill; whoever did this can't have gone far." He stood. "This technique," he began, before trailing off with a glance at Naruto.

The genin frowned. "What is it?" he asked, looking slightly pale as he stared at the bodies.

Kakashi ignored his student, kicking the corpse Jiraiya had disturbed back over. "I only know one other person who knows that technique," he said. "You know who I speak of."

Jiraiya nodded, and Naruto's knowledge of his teacher's expressions told him just how worried he was despite the old man's efforts to hide it. Who could make him so scared? "What technique?" the genin demanded to know.

Zeshin glanced at the corpses. "It's Raikiri," he said.

Naruto blinked. That sounded sort of familiar, but where had he heard it before? "Raikiri?" he asked, glancing between the older ninja.

Kakashi looked away. "It's also called Chidori," he said after a long moment.

"Chidori!" Naruto shouted. "That means… Sasuke." Jiraiya was suddenly behind him, holding his shoulder firmly. Naruto looked up at his teacher's firm visage, then forced himself to relax.

Kakashi frowned, looking at Zeshin. "I don't recall ever showing you that technique," he said slowly.

It took a moment for the Cloud ninja to answer. "We learn of that technique in Storm training," he said, "in case we are ever called upon to fight the famous copy ninja Sharingan Kakashi." He hesitated, then added, "From your words and the type of wounds, it wasn't hard to figure out."

"Who cares about that?!" Naruto yelled, looking around wildly. "They weren't killed long ago, right? That means that… Sasuke…" He trailed off, freezing.

Three other sets of eyes followed Naruto's still gaze to the top of a nearby hill, just on the other side of the border. Atop it, a young boy in a dark kimono smirked. "Yo, dead last."

Naruto tensed. "Sasuke…" he snarled, baring his teeth.

"Naruto," Jiraiya said warningly, "don't -"

There was a flicker of crimson around the boy, and the legendary Sannin jerked his hand away. In an instant, Naruto was halfway up the hill, charging at the other boy, who merely turned and started to walk away.

"- it's genjutsu!" Jiraiya finished, shouting as his student vanished over the crest of the hill. "Damn it, we have to go after him!"

"Right," Kakashi said, but instead of moving all three ninja froze, turning to face another hilltop. Jiraiya paled as he saw the two figures standing there.

"Found you," Hoshigaki Kisame declared cheerfully as he raised his sword off his shoulder, then pointed it directly at Jiraiya. "Your stupid toads won't save you this time."

"Kakashi," Jiraiya said softly. "Go after Naruto. I'll hold these two off."

"And me?" Zeshin asked.

"Help if you see an opening; stay out of my way if you don't." Jiraiya's eyes didn't leave the two Akatsuki.

"Right," Zeshin said, and then Kakashi was gone.

"Want me to chase after him, Itachi-san?" the shark-like ninja asked his partner. The other man just shook his head, his crimson eyes fixed on Jiraiya.

"I suppose this answers the question," Jiraiya said, "of who used Raikiri on these four. I'd forgotten your brother showed you that technique, Itachi-kun."

"I'm afraid we've been following behind you this whole time, Jiraiya-sama," Uchiha Itachi said after a glance at the dead Cloud ninja. "We only just arrived. That was none of my work."

"What?" Jiraiya asked. "Then whose genjutsu was it that drew off Naruto?"

"Well," Zeshin said from behind the legendary Sannin, "I imagine it was probably Kabuto-kun or Tayuya-chan. Unless Sasuke-kun has been studying genjutsu in his spare time, of course."

Jiraiya's eyes widened, his face paling even further as he looked over his shoulder at the Cloud ninja. The other man smiled, licking his lips with an abnormally long tongue before gently pulling his face away, revealing a very different set of features. "Orochimaru," Jiraiya hissed, almost in unison with Itachi.

The other Sannin laughed, amused, inhuman eyes meeting Jiraiya's. "You're so observant, Jiraiya."

"When?"

"After you left poor Zeshin-kun behind," Orochimaru said. "He'd been working for me for a while now. You should thank me, Jiraiya. Without me, the Kyuubi brat would still be in Kaida's grasp."

"That explains much," Itachi said softly.

Kisame grinned. "It looks like we're going to get to kill two birds with one stone today, Itachi-san." Without visible cause, the bandages concealing his sword's true nature began to loosen, falling off the massive blade.

"Well, Jiraiya," Orochimaru said, smiling. "It looks like you have an important choice to make."

"Damn you," Jiraiya snarled, but he turned away from the other Sannin, his attention focusing once more on the two Akatsuki.

Orochimaru laughed. "Very good. I'll let you handle Itachi-kun, while I deal with Kisa-chan here."

Kisame's sword shifted slightly to point at the snake master. "Don't underestimate me, Orochimaru."

Orochimaru laughed again, sinking into the earth. The shark-like ninja jumped into the air instantly, heading directly at Jiraiya. Orochimaru rocketed out of the ground to intercept, snakes flying out from one arm at his foe. In one wild swing, Kisame's sword decapitated all of them, but then Orochimaru was upon him.

Itachi tensed to join his partner, but then Jiraiya vanished reappearing behind the infamous Uchiha. "Not so fast, kid," he said, chakra already spinning in his hand. "Rasengan!" Itachi didn't have a chance to dodge, but he only exploded into gray smoke as Jiraiya's blow struck home. "Shadow Replication," the Sannin hissed.

"Indeed," Itachi said, appearing behind his opponent, kunai slitting Jiraiya's throat with a single perfect strike. There was another explosion of smoke. "How amusing," the Uchiha said as he stared at where Jiraiya's shadow replication had stood.

A thin line of fire pierced his heart, and there was yet another pillar of smoke. "This could go on forever," Jiraiya said. "What do you say? Shall we stop playing games and get this fight started?"

"Very well," Itachi said, suddenly appearing not far from where his latest clone had been destroyed.

Jiraiya stepped out from his own place of concealment. "It's well past time someone dealt with you, Uchiha Itachi," Jiraiya said. "I hope your brother is prepared to truly be the last of the Uchiha."

The missing ninja's crimson eyes showed no emotion at the mention of Sasuke. "I thank you," Itachi said, "for allowing me to finally learn this technique." Chakra began to spin in his hand, as he blurred into to motion, reaching Jiraiya in less than a second. "Rasengan."

Jiraiya laughed as he blocked Itachi's attack and captured his arm, the rotating chakra spinning out of control and harmlessly shoving the older man back less than a foot. "If that technique could be copied so easily," he said, "don't you think someone else would have done it already?" Itachi tried to break away, but the Sannin had a firm grip on his hand. "Let me show it to you again," Jiraiya said, a storm of chakra gathering in his free hand. "Rasengan!"

* * *

Naruto knew that it wasn't Sasuke he was following. Sasuke wouldn't run away from him like this, nor could he have moved so quickly. A part of him even realized that the image he was following probably wasn't real. What real thing moved so rapidly, but only when it was out of sight? Still, Naruto didn't care. The image of Sasuke was too accurate; it's words were a dead perfect imitation of the other boy. Whoever had created it knew Sasuke. Whoever had created it knew where Sasuke was.

It was a trap, Naruto also knew. He didn't care about that either. He would find a way to turn the trap on its maker, defeat whatever challenge presented itself. He would find out where Sasuke was, and then… he wasn't certain what he would do, but he knew he would do something. Somehow, he would make things right again. He would find whatever words he couldn't find at the Valley of the End, invent whatever strategy he'd been unable to invent. Everything would go back to the way it had been, to the way it was supposed to be. It would be like he had never failed.

Another thing that Naruto knew was that he was treading dangerously close to the edge of unleashing the rage he could feel boiling under the seal on his stomach, and that he did care about. Even now, he managed to make himself stop for just an instant, taking a deep breath. He forced the crimson flickers of energy around him to die down. His hands twitched as sharp claws shrank, once more becoming human fingernails. His teeth lost the points they had just begun to grow, and Naruto took another deep breath.

Hatake Kakashi roughly grabbed him by the shoulder. "Stop, Naruto," he said firmly, though there was no unkindness or blame in his voice.

"I know it's a trap," Naruto said, turning back to glance at his teacher. "I'm going anyway." He paused. "Where's Ero-sennin? And the Cloud guy?"

"Akatsuki," Kakashi said. Naruto's blue eyes widened fearfully. "This is their trap. You won't learn anything about Sasuke-kun today."

"Is that so?" a very familiar voice asked from behind the pair of Leaf ninja. In an instant, both of them were facing the speaker, weapons in hand. "I'm disappointed in you, Kakashi-sensei," Uchiha Sasuke said, the last shreds of the powerful cloaking genjutsu that had hid him fading away.

Naruto tensed, but before doing anything he glanced at his teacher. "Is he -" He faltered as he realized that at some point Kakashi had lifted his forehead protector, revealing his Sharingan.

"He's real," Kakashi said flatly. "The rest of you might as well come out now too." It took effort for Naruto not to show his surprise as they were suddenly surrounded by ninja.

Among them was another familiar figure, who stood next to Sasuke, adjusting his glasses. "So nice to see you again, Kakashi-san, Naruto-kun," Yakushi Kabuto said pleasantly, smiling a smirk that wasn't at all pleasant.

Naruto forced himself to take a deep breath, glancing around to count the number of enemies. In front of them were Sasuke and Kabuto. Behind, he saw a grim-faced boy with dark hair and eyes that Naruto didn't recognize and that six-armed guy Neji had fought - or perhaps another six-armed person; Naruto didn't have time to strain his memory for particular facial features.

The same with the girl to the left; Naruto thought that he recognized her as the kunoichi on the Sound team that had taken Sasuke away, the one Shikamaru had stayed behind to fight. He couldn't be one hundred percent certain, though. The black-haired girl on the right Naruto thought he hadn't met before, despite something about her face that seemed a little familiar.

All of them wore Sound forehead protectors, and none of them seemed weak. Naruto swallowed, his hand tightening around the hilt of his drawn kunai. This was not going to be easy. "Kakashi-sensei?" he mouthed. The jounin didn't respond, both of his eyes fixed on Kabuto.

The girl Naruto thought he didn't know was smirking. "I told you my genjutsu was good, Tayuya-san," she stated, and Naruto realized that her green eyes were watching the other girl, not him. He inched closer to her. Perhaps he could take advantage of her distraction.

The other girl snorted. "If I hadn't been shoring up your sloppy mistakes, your cloaking genjutsu wouldn't even have fooled the genin."

"Save it for after the battle, Midori-chan, Tayuya-chan," Kabuto chided.

At that moment, Kakashi struck, chakra crackling into being around his outstretched hand as he charged forward, closing the distance between himself and the medical ninja in less than an instant. The younger man stumbled backward, then dodged aside with a speed and grace that belied his apparent surprise. It didn't avail him, as Kakashi was already intercepting his foe's altered course before Kabuto had even started moving.

Sasuke caught his former teacher's hand, eyes flaring into twin crimson orbs. The sparking energy of Kakashi's technique flared brightly, mere inches from Kabuto's chest, before fading away. "Pathetic," the Uchiha declared, even as Kakashi forced his hand free and jumped back beside Naruto.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto said, not sounding at all shaken. The younger traitor just snorted.

Naruto noted with worry that Kakashi was already breathing heavily. "Kakashi-sensei," he whispered worriedly.

"I'm fine," the jounin forced out. Then he fell to his knees. "Convert chakra to electrical impulses," Kakashi said after a moment. "Use those to disrupt the enemy's nervous system temporarily. Clever."

Kabuto smiled. "I'm afraid I can't claim credit for it," he said. "It's only an inferior imitation of a technique Tsunade-sama used on me." He sighed. "Under ordinary circumstances, I doubt it would work on you, but you're still weak from your captivity, aren't you?"

"We'll see how weak I am," Kakashi said. He stood, but his legs were unsteady.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Naruto asked quietly, his lips barely moving.

"Well enough to fight," Kakashi returned, no more loudly than his student, but Naruto could see the occasional trembling of his limbs. Whether from his captivity or Kabuto's technique, the jounin was not at full fighting strength.

"What should we do?" Naruto asked.

"Kabuto and Sasuke are the most dangerous," Kakashi said. "Keep the others busy while I deal with them."

"But," Naruto began to protest, eyes glancing involuntarily at his teammate. A one-eyed glare from Kakashi silenced him.

Sasuke seemed to notice the glimpse, snorting loudly. "Let's finish this, Kabuto," he said.

The medical ninja smiled. "Now, now, Sasuke-kun. It's not polite to attack until they've finished deciding on a battle plan."

"Idiocy," Sasuke stated simply, and Naruto had to agree.

"In this case, not so," Kabuto replied, his smile only widening. "We have all the advantages here, and its better to give Kakashi-san a chance to convince himself that he can't win."

"Why so?" Kakashi asked mildly.

"I would hope," Kabuto said, "that a reasoned appraisal of the situation would convince you to agree to a peaceful resolution." His hand fell from his glasses, drawing a kunai. "Give us Naruto-kun," Kabuto said, "and I'll let you leave."

"No." Kakashi drew his own kunai.

"A shame," Kabuto replied.

Kakashi tensed, then shouted, "Now!" He charged the two Leaf missing ninja in front.

Almost simultaneously, Naruto's hands blurred through seals. "Mass Shadow Replication Technique!" he roared, dozens of clones popping into existence all around him.

"I remember that technique," the six-armed ninja behind Naruto said. "It won't do you any good." A massive web spurted from his open mouth, ensnaring the front rank of Naruto. The captured clones fell over backward, knocking over more clones and trapping them under the web. Hurled weapons from the other Sound ninja disrupted most of the rest, and the six-armed young man spat out another web, catching the few remaining. Then he added a final layer on top of the whole pile of Naruto, eliminating any chance of escape from the sticky web.

"That was easy." The six-armed ninja stepped forward, visibly chewing on something. He slowly extracted a blade of some hard, golden substance. "Let's play this game again, shall we?"

The girl Naruto didn't recognize - Midori, Kabuto had called her - snorted. "They're probably all clones, Kidoumaru-san," she declared, her green eyes sweeping the mass of replications. "None of them even tried to escape. Stop wasting time and finish them off so we can look for where the real one ran off to."

"He didn't have time to," Kidoumaru began, but then every visible Naruto vanished in a giant cloud of white smoke. "Damn it," the six-armed ninja snarled. "When did he have a chance to -"

Before he could finish his sentence, a Naruto burst from the earth almost directly underneath him, his foot catching the Sound ninja in the chest. "Uz -" the Naruto shouted, as more clones emerged from the ground.

"- zu -" Another clone struck Kidoumaru, knocking him higher into the air.

"- maki -" A third blow from a third clone slipped passed Kidoumaru's attempts to guard himself.

"- Naruto Combo!" The final attack came from above, sending the six-armed ninja slamming back toward the ground. He landed with a loud thud and did not move.

The other male Sound ninja suddenly charged the Naruto wordlessly, a half-dozen kunai flying from his hands at them. One Naruto raced forward, taking a deep breath. "Whirlwind Shield!" The sudden burst of wind knocking the thrown weapons aside, and in an instant the attacking clone was upon the other boy.

Meanwhile, the remaining two Naruto turned to the two kunoichi. Midori's green eyes flicked between them. "Impressive," she said. "I can't tell which of you is the real one." She raised one hand, and Naruto caught a glimpse of black rings on the back of it.

Tayuya snorted. "Don't waste your strength," she said. "It's over."

The two Naruto exchanged a glance, even as behind them the boy he didn't know disrupted the third Naruto and stepped forward to help Kidoumaru to his feet. "What do you mean?" one of the surviving Naruto asked.

"She means this, Naruto-kun." Both Narutos' gaze went instantly to Kabuto. The medical ninja held a struggling Kakashi in front of him, a kunai at the jounin's throat. Impassively, Sasuke stood behind them. "Surrender, and I'll let him go."

One Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving only one. "Let him go," he said flatly. "Once he's gone, I'll give up."

"Naruto," Kakashi said, "don't."

Kabuto laughed. "I'm not stupid, Naruto-kun. I know how tricky you are. I'm not about to trade Kakashi-san for a shadow clone." Almost casually, Sasuke disappeared in a blur of motion. He reappeared behind Naruto, a kunai taking the other boy in the throat. There was a puff of smoke, and the Uchiha snorted loudly. "Come out, Naruto-kun," Kabuto continued. "The real you. Lay down your weapons and let us bind you, and then I'll release Kakashi."

A Naruto emerged from the ground. "You're lying," he said simply. "You won't let him go."

"Perhaps," Kabuto said smoothly. "You don't really have any other choice, though."

"All right," Naruto said, stepping forward.

"Excellent." Kabuto smiled. "You should thank your student, Kakashi-san."

"Doton: Grasping Hand Technique!" Even Kabuto started at the sudden voice from behind, even as the visible Naruto exploded into pale smoke. A massive hand of stone and earth rose up out of the ground, grabbing at the medical ninja.

"Futile," Kabuto declared, hurling a kunai at the earthen hand. An explosive tag dangled from the hilt, and when it detonated the explosion shattered Naruto's technique.

Then the second hand that had been rising up behind the first raced forward to capture Kabuto. Having only moments to react, the Sound ninja had no choice but to abandon his prisoner. The hand wrapped itself protectively around the jounin, who slumped to the ground.

Another Naruto melted out of the earth, inside the hand's protective cocoon. "Kakashi-sensei," he said urgently. "Can you get away if I distract them?"

"Yes," Kakashi said, "but -"

"Ninja who don't take care of their friends are worse than scum, right?" Naruto asked. "That's what I'm doing."

"Naruto," Kakashi protested weakly.

"It's better that they take me and you escape to tell Ero-sennin what happened then for them to take both of us," Naruto said rapidly. He grimaced. "And I only see one way to win against them," he added, "and I'd prefer if you weren't around it."

Kakashi caught his meaning. "I'm sorry," he said after a moment.

"I'll try not to," Naruto said, "but I might not have a choice."

"If I was at full strength," Kakashi muttered, but after a long moment he nodded. "Good luck. I'll try to bring Jiraiya-sama as quickly as I can." Then he slipped into the earth.

A moment later, Naruto let the hand of stone crumble into dust, and he stood, glancing about at the ninja surrounding him. "Let's do this," he said.

"Let's," Kabuto agreed. "Kidoumaru-kun, Sasuke-kun, see if you can intercept Kakashi-san before he reaches Jiraiya-sama."

The two ninja nodded, but Naruto moved before they could. "I won't let you!" he roared, hands forming seals. "Mass Shadow Replication Technique!"

Even as he jumped out of the way of a torrent of angry clones, Kabuto seemed calm. "Tayuya-chan, Jabisen-kun," he said firmly.

"Yes, sir," Tayuya said, as she elbowed a clone out of the way. A flute appeared in her hands, and the boy Naruto didn't know moved to stand behind her. The kunoichi began to play a quiet tune. Not waiting to see what would result, Naruto directed the bulk of his clones at the pair, using only the bare minimum to keep the others busy.

The boy - Jabisen - opened his mouth, and all sound ceased. Then it returned as an almost physical thing, a cone of force projecting from his open mouth that battered the clones, sending dozens flying away to disappear every second. When Jabisen closed his mouth, the real Naruto was plainly visible kneeling in what had been the center of the crowd of clones, hands clasped over his ears.

Jabisen collapsed, seeming almost as badly affected as Naruto, but his teammates were not, and within instants the few remaining clones had been destroyed. "It's an inconvenient Bloodline Limit in normal circumstances," Kabuto said calmly, removing a set a earplugs from his ears, "but very powerful. Wouldn't you agree, Naruto-kun?"

"Damn it," the genin replied, not able to stop the flickers of red chakra that were beginning to appear around him as he struggled to stand. He could feel his teeth and fingernails sharpen, and finally managed to leap to his feet.

He found himself staring directly into Midori's face, and he had just a moment to realize who the girl reminded him of before she formed a seal and spoke. "Haruno Ninpou: Gaze of Torment."

* * *

Samehada, Hoshigaki Kisame's massive sword, moved in the shark-like ninja's hands with a speed many would have thought impossible. Even many ninja would have found themselves unable to follow the weapon's motion, their eyes catching only a blur. If they were lucky, they might have had enough time to realize they were about to die before the sword ended their lives.

Orochimaru, on the other hand, had no difficulty seeing Kisame's attacks, almost casually darting in and out of the great sword's reach, though Kisame's defense proved skillful enough that even the legendary Sannin was unable to get close enough to strike a blow. It was fortunate for him, then, that his abilities were not limited to taijutsu. He waited for a brief lull in Kisame's probing attacks, then leapt away from his opponent.

Samehada caught him before he was more than a foot in the air, cleaving through his chest. Yet as the two halves fell to the ground, countless writhing snakes poured out of what was revealed to be a hollow shell, descending hungrily toward Kisame. The Akatsuki member only grunted, and with alarming speed his blade's course reversed to fend off the animals.

"Where are you?" Kisame asked irritably as the neatly bisected snake corpses fell to the ground. "Neither of us have time for games, I think."

Orochimaru laughed mockingly as he emerged from the earth behind Kisame. "I have all the time in the world, Kisa-chan. After all, it's my men the Kyuubi brat is running toward."

Kisame snorted, not turning to face his foe. "All you're doing is giving us a reason to take the time to lay waste to your pathetic little village like we should have done long ago."

"And how many Akatsuki would you be willing to sacrifice, hmm?" Orochimaru asked. "I admit, there are many strong ninja in Akatsuki, enough that if you all gathered to fight me I would die swiftly." He smiled. "But I would not be fighting alone, and that would change matters."

"True," Kisame said agreeably. "But you are alone today." His sword plunged into the earth. "Samehada: Scatter!" The large shark scales that covered his sword detached themselves, fluttering about him like strange insects.

"I remember that trick," Orochimaru said mildly, then the flying scales flew straight at him faster than any thrown weapon. His hands formed a single seal. "Whirlwind Counter." The air all around the Leaf missing ninja stirred, snaring the oncoming projectiles and sending them back at Kisame.

The Akatsuki member only laughed. "Samehada: Attack," he said calmly, and the scales promptly reversed course once more.

Orochimaru frowned, raising one hand to his face. "Fuuton: Great Breakthrough," he intoned, and a massive blast of wind emerged from his mouth, knocking the shark scales aside. Orochimaru's still raised hand gestured again, and now a torrent of flame escapes his lips, pouring out at his foe.

Now Kisame turned, shouting, "Samehada: Defend!" Almost instantly, the scales were in the air again, this time forming a floating wall that shielded the shark-like ninja from Orochimaru's attack. Orochimaru took in a deep breath and loosed another blast of flame.

Behind his wall, Kisame tensed, then suddenly vanished. He reappeared directly behind his opponent, his sword positioned for a perfect killing blow. Grinning widely he declared, "Samehada: Return!" Moving too rapidly to see, the scales flew back to the strange sword, slotting back into place before Kisame was halfway through with his strike.

Orochimaru avoided the first attack, but the second caught him in the arm. Though it only grazed him, the sharp scales left the arm a bloody mess, and Kisame grinned again. "You should remember," he said, "that my sword does not cut. It shaves."

"Indeed," Orochimaru said, his other hand brushing the blood down his wounded arm, over a dark tattoo "Summoning Technique." He vanished in the center of a massive puff of smoke.

Kisame cocked his head as he stared up at the gargantuan three-headed snake Orochimaru had summoned, not moving as one of its massive fanged mouths descended toward him. "Don't waste my time," he said calmly, then he stabbed upward with his blade.

Less than thirty seconds later, as the defeated snake dissolved into pale smoke, Orochimaru reappeared, thrusting a long, thin sword at Kisame. The shark-like ninja blocked with the flat of his own massive sword, but Orochimaru only smiled. "You should remember, Kisa-chan," he said, "that my sword neither cuts nor shaves. It pierces." The snake master's sword lengthened, passing through Samehada like it wasn't even there and reaching for Kisame's heart.

Dropping his blade, the Akatsuki member leapt away, in time that the tip of Orochimaru's sword only scratched him. "Samehada!" he shouted, and the massive blade flew through the air at him. Kisame easily caught its hilt with one hand, his other gently probing at the scratch. "Only you," he said after a moment, "would think to poison the legendary Kusanagi."

"Thank you," Orochimaru replied.

Green chakra briefly encased Kisame's hand, then he pulled it away from the wound. "That'll do for the moment."

"Medical ninjutsu?" Orochimaru asked. "That's not like you."

Kisame shrugged. "It's useful to know a little." He stuck his sword in the ground, his hands beginning to form seals. "I think it's time to get serious," he stated. Then he froze as someone appeared behind him.

"We're going, Kisame," Uchiha Itachi said flatly.

Kisame glanced backward. "Itachi-san?"

"We're not accomplishing anything like this," the other Akatsuki member said. "Let's go."

Kisame glanced at Orochimaru. "This isn't over," he said, and then the two Akatsuki vanished.

A moment later, Jiraiya appeared in their place. "Already gone?" he asked.

Orochimaru laughed. "I don't think I've ever seen Itachi-kun that scared," he said, walking toward Jiraiya. "What did you do to him?"

Jiraiya snorted. "I showed him a few tricks he couldn't copy," he said. Then he looked away. "That boy's strong," he said after a moment. "I don't know if I'd be able to kill him without dying myself."

"Troublesome, isn't he?" Orochimaru asked mildly. He stepped closer. "Not strong enough to defeat all three of us, though."

"He's not likely to ever face that challenge," Jiraiya said sadly, looking Orochimaru in the eyes.

Orochimaru smiled, and then he attacked, his sword thrusting into Jiraiya's chest. The other Sannin managed to shield his vital organs and avoid a killing strike, but he still fell to his knees as Orochimaru retracted his lengthened blade. As it shrank back to its normal size, the leader of the Hidden Sound turned around and began to walk away. "To remember me by," he said.

"Damn you," Jiraiya hissed, clutching at the wound. "Poison?"

"Of course," Orochimaru replied. "I don't want you chasing after the Kyuubi brat."

"This… isn't going to stop me." Jiraiya began to rise.

"Perhaps," Orochimaru said, glancing back at his former teammate. "I'd have thought that poison was strong enough to force you to run back to the Leaf Village for treatment, though." He smiled. "Even if it isn't, you probably should anyway."

"Why?" Jiraiya asked, his eyes narrowing.

"For one, poor Kakashi-kun is doing a good job of hiding it, but he really does need treatment in a decent hospital to recover from all the drugs the Cloud pumped into him." Orochimaru turned away again. "The other reason is because in ten days I'm going to kill Tsunade-hime."

Then Orochimaru was gone.

* * *

**Day Ninety-one**

Inuzuka Kiba glanced backward as he felt a hand on his shoulder, nodding as he saw it was only Hinata. The Hyuuga heiress returned the nod, then held up four fingers before pointing in the direction they'd been heading. Kiba raised a finger, quickly sketching the four lines of the Mist in the air. Hinata nodded, and he grimaced. "Shino?" he risked asking quietly.

Hinata pointed in another direction, and Kiba nodded again, frowning as he glanced around the thick forest. He'd thought that their troubles would be over once they escaped from the Wave Country, but it had quickly become apparent that the Mist's aggression didn't stop there. They were still behind enemy lines, outnumbered and unable to risk any confrontations. It was depressing how far inland they'd traveled without escaping the Mist.

Fortunately, unlike in some other countries, the peasants of the Fire Country respected and honored the ninja of their country. At considerable risk to themselves, a number of villagers had helped the fugitive trio in various ways, providing supplies and shelter as well as pointing them in the direction of where they'd heard the fighting was going on.

Where there was fighting, after all, was where they would find other Leaf ninja and be able to get a clearer picture of what was going on. They were finally getting close, Kiba knew. They'd seen signs of battle, only a day or so old, not far behind them. It was possible - likely, even - that the Mist patrol ahead of them was the last one they would have to dodge, that they only a few hundred yards from the front lines and the Leaf forces. If that was the case, though, this would be the most dangerous part of their journey since their escape from the Wave Country.

Hinata touched Kiba's shoulder again, then pointed backward. Shino must have signaled for a meeting, Kiba knew, so he followed his female teammate as she turned back. Less than a minute later, they met up with the bug user in a small clearing.

"Keep an eye out, Hinata," Shino said. The Hyuuga nodded, activating her Bloodline Limit. Kiba didn't need the Byakugan himself to see how tired she was getting, but without her almost constant use of it they would have been captured or worse a dozen times now. His and Akamaru's smell along with Shino's bugs were good at finding and avoiding the enemy, but the Byakugan was on a whole different level. Considering that there were enemy jounin out there, they needed that edge badly.

"What's the plan?" Kiba asked, setting Akamaru down on the ground beside him.

"We're probably getting close," Shino said. "From the look of that last battle site, both sides retreated in good order from it. I imagine that's a Mist forward patrol scouting out our positions."

"They're definitely on guard," Hinata said distantly after a moment, her attention obviously more on the Mist than the conversation.

"Can we go around?" Kiba asked.

"There will be more patrols," Shino said. "It won't be any easier."

Hinata suddenly stiffened. "I see Leaf ninja," she said.

"What?" Kiba stood. "Where?"

"They're moving to ambush the Mist." Hinata paused. "I think Tenten-san is with them."

"Let's go," Shino said. "We can help."

Despite his words, by the time they reached the other ninja the Mist were already gone, having noticed the Leaf ambushers and headed off rapidly to avoid them. Carefully making enough noise to be heard coming and make clear that they weren't hiding themselves, the three genin approached and were swiftly surrounded by the four-man Leaf patrol.

Tenten was indeed one of the members of the patrol, and she relaxed slightly as she recognized the trio. "I know them," she said, and her teammates too began to relax. One of the men on her squad gave her a questioning glance, and she spoke again. "Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba."

Shino nodded. "We were stationed in the Wave Country," he said. He took out his forehead protector from the pockets of his jacket. After a moment, Kiba and Hinata followed suit.

"All right," one of the Leaf ninja said after a moment. "I recognize the Byakugan, and it doesn't look like you all are using a disguise technique. Tenten-kun, take them back to camp. We'll finish up the rest of the patrol ourselves."

"Right," the weapons expert said. "This way," she told the three genin as she walked off.

They followed in silence for some time, then Shino spoke. "What's been going on?" he asked quietly. "We haven't been able to get any real news."

"The Mist and the Sound hit the village together after the Chuunin Exams ended," Tenten answered shortly. "The Rain and maybe the Valley are working with them too." She grimaced. "It's been pretty bad. They've got most of the coast under their control, but we've made them pay every time they try to push into the forest."

"That's good, at least," Kiba said.

"Not good enough," Shino said. "What about the northern border?"

Tenten shrugged. "Haven't heard anything." She sped up slightly. "Almost there."

Shortly thereafter, they suddenly were on the edge of the large clearing that contained the Leaf encampment. The two sentries that met them nodded as Tenten explained the situation. "Take them to Hokage-sama for debriefing," one said, and Tenten nodded, leading the way to the largest tent, near the center of the encampment.

They were almost there when a voice called out, "Shino, Hinata, Kiba! You all made it out all right!" The three genin turned in unison to face Yamanaka Inoichi, who smiled broadly as they neared. "Was that mess at the bridge your doing?"

Shino nodded. "I believe so."

"Good work," Inoichi said. "That gave Shikaku, Chouza, and I the distraction we needed to get out ourselves. We got here a couple of days ago and Hokage-sama quizzed us already, so your debriefing shouldn't be bad." He laughed awkwardly. "It can't be worse than mine at least."

Kiba raised an eyebrow. "Something happen?" he asked.

Inoichi sighed. "It's… complicated," he said, "and I'm not sure what I should tell you."

"Understood," Shino said.

"When we get back home and I have chance to talk to…" Inoichi trailed off. "Sorry," he said after a moment.

Kiba couldn't help being curious what the jounin was concealing, but it wasn't a question he could ask. "You talk like we might be home soon," he said after a moment.

"Could be." Inoichi frowned. "Now that they know that we're going to put up a tough fight, the Mist haven't been pushing us too hard. Some of the prisoners we've taken have told us that there's rumors on their side that the Mizukage is about to offer a truce."

"Or the Mist are waiting for reinforcements and that's just misinformation," Shino said.

"Very true," Inoichi said. He smiled grimly. "I'd wager we'll know one way or another within the week."

* * *

"Ah, Sakura-chan," Shizune said as the pink-haired girl slipped into what had been the academy headmaster's office not too long ago. "You're a little early."

Sakura shrugged. "There wasn't enough time from when I got back from lunch to do any real work before you wanted to see me."

"That's fine." Shizune smiled slightly. "I wanted to talk to you alone for a little while too." She yawned suddenly. "Sorry. I've was up late last night." Sakura nodded, and the older woman continued. "Have you read the book I gave you?"

Sakura nodded a second time. "Yes, Shizune-sama."

"Good. If I can find the time, I'll have to take a few hours to show you some basic first aid ninjutsu." Shizune glanced at the disorderly piles of paper covering the desk, and repeated "If I can find the time."

"Thank you," Sakura murmured politely. A tiny part of her wondered just what good first aid techniques would do to help her catch up to Naruto and Sasuke, but she ruthlessly quashed it. Even the most impractical knowledge was useful, and basic medical ninjutsu was hardly impractical.

The door to the office opened, and Shikamaru slipped inside. "I brought the draft report you asked for, Shizune-sama," he said, laying a folder precariously on top of a pile of paper.

Shizune reached to steady it. "Thank you," she said simply. "How's your work going, Sakura-chan?"

"Slowly," she answered. "There are a lot of records. Most of them are intact, but the ones that aren't take a long time to deal with. It would be easier if there were more people."

"A lot of things would be," Shizune said. She opened her mouth, but whatever she might have been going to say was lost as a toad suddenly appeared on her desk.

"Stupid humans," it muttered. "Always moving things around. Wandered around the village for half the day trying to find where you put the Hokage's office." It frowned at Shizune. "You aren't the Hokage."

Shikamaru just raised an eyebrow. Sakura blinked several times before Shizune answered. "No. Tsunade-sama isn't in the village right now."

"Well, damn it." The toad grumbled to himself for a moment.

"What do you need Hokage-sama for?" Sakura asked. This had to be a summoned creature which meant… Jiraiya must have sent him.

The toad spun about to face her. "To deliver a…" he trailed off suddenly. "You stink of snakes, girl," he said harshly.

Sakura rubbed self-consciously at her snake tattoo, still hidden by the bandage one of Tsunade's previous chuunin bodyguards had given her. "Really?" she asked weakly.

The toad backed away. "What's a snake summoner doing in the Hokage's office?" he demanded.

"That's quite enough," Shizune said. "She is a loyal Leaf ninja."

"If you say so," the toad said, turning back to her. "Do you happen to be Shizune or Haruno Sakura?" Sakura blinked.

"I'm Shizune," Tsunade's assistant said. "That's Sakura-chan behind you."

The toad glanced back. "A snake mistress is one of the three people Jiraiya-sama trusted to take this message?" He shook his small head sadly. "Bizarre."

"The message," Shizune prompted.

"Right." A small scroll appeared on the desk in front of the toad. "That's all," he said, then vanished in a puff of smoke.

Shizune quickly unrolled the scroll and read it, her face getting paler with every second. "Damn it!" she shouted, slamming the scroll back down on the desk. "And I thought things couldn't possibly get worse."

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked worriedly. Jiraiya had sent a message about something bad, and she was one of the people who it could have been delivered to. Had something gone wrong with Naruto?

"It's… Orochimaru." Shizune took a deep breath. "Jiraiya-sama is coming back to the Fire Country, and Hatake Kakashi is with him," she said after a moment.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura breathed. "Thank the gods."

"They're both in serious condition, and he wants a skilled medic, preferably Tsunade-sama or me, to meet him at the border."

"How… Orochimaru?" Shikamaru asked. Shizune nodded.

"What about Naruto?" Sakura demanded.

"He…" Shizune trailed.

Sakura swallowed. "Is he dead?"

"No," Shizune said. She grimaced. "Probably not. Orochimaru… took him."

"Naruto?" Shikamaru asked. "Why would -" He cut off suddenly, trading a horrified glance with Sakura.

"Probably leverage over the Uchiha," Shizune answered quickly. "Or because he knows Tsunade-sama cares for him."

Shikamaru blinked. "Yeah. Right," he said.

"That makes sense," Sakura managed to say a moment later.

Shizune gave both chuunin a long look. "You know," she said slowly. Her eyes widened at the involuntary, guilty glance that passed between the two. "You do. Who else knows?"

"No one," Sakura said. "I figured it out, and I talked to Shikamaru-kun to make sure I wasn't insane."

"How did you figure it out?" Shizune asked.

Sakura swallowed. "The archives. I… saw some ANBU reports that gave me the missing pieces of the puzzle."

Shizune let out a bark of laughter. "Figures," she said. "I'll figure out your punishment when we get back."

Sakura blinked. "Shizune-sama?"

"The other thing Jiraiya-sama wants is a team to follow the trail Orochimaru's men left and rescue Naruto." Shizune smiled. "If I didn't let you come, I imagine you'd follow anyway."

"I'm coming too," Shikamaru said seriously.

"It's not too troublesome?" Shizune asked. Shikamaru just grunted. "Good. You'll be second-in-command after me."

Shikamaru nodded. "Who else is coming?"

"I don't know the chuunin well enough to pick, and we can't afford to send any of the jounin we have left in the village." Shizune frowned. "Three more chuunin," she said. "That I can probably convince Homura-sama and Koharu-sensei to let me have." She grimaced. "It'll be hard enough to convince them to let me go."

"Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji," Shikamaru said. "They're my teammates, and I work best with them."

"Yes on Yamanaka," Shizune said. "No on Akimichi." She sighed. "I'm sure he's strong enough to go if you'll recommend him, but I'm going to have enough problems without trying to get approval for a genin to go on an S-class mission."

Shikamaru grimaced. "Hyuuga Neji," he said after a moment. "And Rock Lee."

"Done and done," Shizune agreed. "Prying Neji-kun loose from ANBU training will be tough, but worth it."

Sakura blinked, but Shikamaru didn't seem surprised. That did explain a few things, Sakura concluded after a moment. "What now?" she asked.

"We leave at first light tomorrow," Shizune said. "Get ready." She stood, then blinked. "I almost forgot," she said. "They're letting Anko-chan have visitors now."

Sakura nodded. "I'll see her."

* * *

Mitarashi Anko smiled weakly at her sometime student as the ANBU guard shut and locked the heavy door behind himself. "If I were dangerous," she said, "you'd be in trouble."

"You're in chains," Sakura said.

Anko shrugged. "Minor details," she replied. "What's wrong with you?"

Sakura blinked. "What?"

"It's obvious you're worried about something," Anko said. "Something that's not me," she added, pouting slightly. Sakura quickly explained the message Jiraiya had sent, and Anko grimaced. "Damn it," she hissed. "If I could do anything…"

"I know," Sakura said after a moment.

"Sakura-chan," Anko said, studying the pink-haired girl carefully. "I'm sorry you had to see… that."

"You saved me," Sakura said, knowing what Anko referred to. "I should apologize to you."

Anko shook her head. "It was my choice," the special jounin said. She smiled. "But since you think you owe me…" she trailed off, and when she spoke again her voice was serious. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes," Sakura replied.

"My sister," Anko said. "What happened to her… after I… you know."

"I… let me think." Sakura paused. "I had a lot of things on my mind, and afterward…" She trailed off.

"I know," Anko said sympathetically.

"I think your sister and her students left with Kabuto-san," Sakura said after a moment. "He said something about taking them to Orochimaru." Anko paled. "What's wrong?" Sakura asked.

"Nothing," Anko said shortly. "Thank you… and good luck." She obviously forced a laugh. "I hate to be so cliche," she said, "but you're going to need it."

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings

1) And another chapter done. There's an outside chance of this being the penultimate chapter, but as I mentioned last time there will probably be two more chapters.

2) I more or less got this chapter finished on schedule, which is nice. I'm still aiming to have this story done by the end of the year. Nine days left, and the two halves of the story are finally starting to converge. Should be fun, I hope.

3) There are quite a few scenes I've been wanting to write for a while now in this chapter. Hopefully they're as entertaining in words as they were in my head.

4) As always, I welcome all comments on the story. Thanks go to everybody who commented on the draft of this chapter on the FFML.

5) Next time, in One Hundred Days Chapter 15, The Will of Fire: The mission to rescue Naruto begins, but is it doomed from the start? Is there any chance that the direly weakened Leaf can triumph against the superior forces arrayed against them? In less than ten days, the answers will be known…

Draft Started: October 04, 2006  
Draft Finished: October 31, 2006  
Draft Released: November 01, 2006  
Final Released: November 08, 2006


	16. Chapter 15: The Will of Fire

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 15: The Will of Fire

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, plain old ordinary squirrels!

* * *

**Day Ninety-two**

"Are we just going to stand here and watch, Itachi-san?" Hoshigaki Kisame's sharp teeth almost seemed to glow in the moonlight as he bared them. "I say we go in and take the Kyuubi brat."

"No," Itachi responded flatly, his crimson eyes not turning aside from the small collection of tents spread out below the hill the two missing ninja stood on.

Kisame grunted, his hand tightening on the grip of his giant sword. "Why not?" he asked, his irritation plain. "We've been chasing that damn brat all around the world for the past three months, and now he's finally in front of us. Let's finish this."

"No," Itachi repeated.

Kisame hissed softly before carefully replying. "If you won't do it, I'll do it alone," he said. "I've got no intention of just trotting along behind that traitor like a faithful dog waiting for a better chance that won't ever come." Slowly, he lifted his massive sword off the ground and took a step forward.

In an instant, Itachi stood in front of him, one hand grasping the shark-like ninja's sword arm. "Don't be an idiot, Kisame," he said. "Orochimaru is there, and he's one of the legendary Sannin just like Jiraiya. You're not going to accomplish anything like that."

"I don't see what we're accomplishing like this either," Kisame grumbled, wrenching his arm away from his partner. Still, he took a step back, away from the Sound ninjas' camp. "Besides, you've beaten Orochimaru before."

"Is he dead?" Itachi asked, his voice completely flat. Kisame grimaced, and the Uchiha nodded.

"So what do you propose?" Kisame asked, still unsatisfied.

"We wait for a better time," Itachi said simply. "We still have almost three years."

"Unless that snake just kills the brat," Kisame said. "Then where will we be?"

"If Orochimaru wished Naruto-kun dead, he would not still live." Itachi's Sharingan began to whirl slowly. "Isn't that true?"

Mocking laughter filled the air. "You are of course correct, Itachi-kun," Orochimaru's voice answered.

In less than a second, Kisame was kneeling, one hand on the ground. "Doton: Sanctuary-Breaking Technique!" he snarled. Beneath his large hand, the earth rumbled. Almost calmly, Orochimaru slipped up out of the ground in front of the two Akatsuki.

Before the renegade Sannin's feet had emerged, Kisame was upon him, the massive sword Samehada striking for Orochimaru's chest. When the scaled blade touched him, there was a silent explosion of flame that knocked Kisame back several feet. When the fire faded, the real Orochimaru stood before his enemies.

"It's a shame Sasuke-kun needs his sleep," Orochimaru said, smiling. "No doubt he would enjoy showing his elder brother what I've taught him."

Kisame tensed, but he relaxed slightly when Itachi didn't move. "You know what we're here for," the Uchiha said simply.

"I'm afraid you'll be leaving empty-handed," Orochimaru stated. "I have my own uses for the brat."

"We weren't planning on asking," Kisame said dangerously.

"Kisame." At Itachi's simple statement, the shark-like ninja forced himself to relax again. "And what uses are those?" the Uchiha asked.

"For one," Orochimaru said, "insurance. Akatsuki stays out of my business, and in three years a deal might be in order. Interfere with me, and the boy dies."

"Your message will be heard," Itachi said, "but you play a dangerous game, Orochimaru. You know that our organization has no patience for such tactics." His eyes narrowed. "What other reasons?"

"It seems the boy has a talent for making people care about him," Orochimaru said, smiling slightly. "Your little brother, Jiraiya, Tsunade-hime… the Kyuubi brat is a useful tool to manipulate them."

Itachi grunted. "I see."

Orochimaru's smile widened. "I suppose you would," he said. "So, shall I wake Sasuke-kun and the others, or will you two be leaving?"

"Kisame," Itachi said. "Let's go."

"Itachi-san," Kisame began to protest, but a simple glance from the Uchiha stopped him. Still, Kisame raised his sword, pointing it at Orochimaru. "One day," he said, "sooner rather than later, I suspect, we'll finish our fight."

Orochimaru smiled once more. "We shall see, Kisa-chan," he said, and then the two Akatsuki were gone. Orochimaru spent a moment ensuring that they had truly left, then he laughed and walked back down the hill to the silent camp.

* * *

Sakura took a deep breath as she locked the door to Naruto's apartment. She idly wished that she knew some sort of warding technique; now that she knew just why his neighbors hated Naruto she didn't feel comfortable leaving his home empty and unguarded. Then again, this wasn't the first time she'd left on a mission. As awful as they'd been to her, there had never been any damage before, so why should this time be any different? 

Thankfully, it was much too early for any of the neighbors to be out and about. There was only the faintest light in the sky overhead, and a few stars were still visible. Had Sakura been able to sleep well the night before, she still wouldn't have gotten enough sleep to be feeling well-rested. With all the worries that had kept her awake, she thought it a minor miracle she could function at all.

Those worries threatened to consume her as she reminded herself of them. Orochimaru had taken Naruto. Naruto held the demon fox Kyuubi inside of him. They were going to try to get Naruto back, but… Sakura remembered seeing Orochimaru in the Forest of Death. She had become vastly stronger since then, but even so she could not imagine fighting the infamous Sannin. He was on a whole different level. Even with Shizune, what chance could there be of five chuunin even lasting minutes against him?

Sakura shook her head firmly. Thinking about that wouldn't help matters. Shizune wouldn't be ordering the mission if there wasn't a chance of success. There was no guarantee that they would be forced to fight Orochimaru himself after all.

Sakura grimaced. It wasn't like fighting their way through the Sound Village - which she suspected they would have to do - would be much easier. The more she dwelled on it, the more suicidal this mission seemed.

An involuntary yawn distracted Sakura from her thoughts, and before she could return to them she forced herself to set out. The damaged streets of the Leaf Village were unfamiliar in the pre-dawn light, but Sakura still managed to make her way to the gates in relatively short order. Shizune was already there, along with Shikamaru and Neji.

"Sakura-chan," the older woman said in greeting.

"Shizune-sama," Sakura returned quietly. "Neji-kun, Shikamaru-kun." Neji nodded back at her, and Shikamaru grunted. There was no further conversation, and Sakura couldn't say that she was displeased. What was there to say?

Rock Lee was the next to arrive, but even he seemed uncharacteristically subdued. "You spoke to Gai-sensei?" Neji asked softly.

The green-clad ninja nodded. "Yes." He grimaced. "I wish he could come with us."

"If he wasn't in the hospital," Shizune said mildly, "he would be with Tsunade-sama."

"I know," Lee said, and once more the group was quiet.

Ino arrived a few moments later. "Sorry for keeping you waiting," she said. "I needed to say goodbye to my mother."

A sudden flash of jealousy hit Sakura, but she forced it aside. "Hi, Ino," she said softly.

"Sakura," Ino said. Her eyes watered. "We'll get him back," she said. She grinned weakly. "If Orochimaru gets in our way, we'll just have to beat him up."

Neji snorted. "Optimistic, aren't we?"

"Might as well be," Ino answered. "I don't see how being gloomy helps anything."

"All right," Shizune said loudly. In an instant, all eyes were on her. "Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Neji, Nara Shikamaru, Rock Lee, Yamanaka Ino. As you've all been told, this is an S-class rescue mission. Our first objective is to rendezvous with Jiraiya-sama and Hatake Kakashi at the Swamp Country border. Following that, we will proceed into Rice Field Country to locate and retrieve Uzumaki Naruto. Do you all understand?"

There were nods and a chorus of "Yes, Shizune-sama."

"Good." Shizune sighed. "Since you are all only chuunin, I'm required to tell you that your participation on a mission of this rank is strictly optional. If you wish to reject the mission, say so now and no mention will be made in your record." There was only silence. "I didn't think so."

"I already had to go through all the trouble of waking up this early," Shikamaru said. "It'd be a waste if I quit now." The cranky words seemed hollow to Sakura, said more out of habit than anything else.

"Shikamaru-kun here," Shizune said, "will be my second-in-command."

"What about Jiraiya-sama and Kakashi-sensei? Will they be joining us on the second phase of the mission?" Neji's questions hung in the air for a moment.

"I don't know," Shizune answered. "That depends on what sort of condition they're in."

"Understood," Neji said.

"All right then," Shizune stated. "Unless there are any further questions, let's get moving."

"Actually, would you mind waiting just a moment?" a new voice said, and everyone turned to see Mitokado Homura approaching slowly.

"Of course, Homura-sama," Shizune said carefully. "Is Koharu-sensei coming also?"

Homura shook his head. "Just me," he said. His eyes swept the chuunin, pausing slightly on Sakura. The pink-haired chuunin swallowed nervously. "I wish you all good luck," Homura said gravely. "Come back safely."

"Thank you," Shizune said, and Sakura thought she noticed the older woman glancing between her and Homura. "Is there anything else?"

Homura shook his head. "That's all."

"Then let's move," Shizune said, and she gestured to the tired-looking gate guards to open the gates.

* * *

Naruto yawned as he sat up, blinking his eyes wearily. He raised an arm to rub them, then froze as he saw that he was wearing the orange jumpsuit that he hadn't worn in a month. His heart sank as he glanced around, noting the too-familiar moldy walls and the fouled, murky water he was sitting in. A moment later he felt the dank breath of the Kyuubi on his face, and he forced himself to stand. 

Knowing that he really had no other choice, he made his way through the dim corridors until he stood before the massive gate. He wasn't able to stop himself from swallowing nervously as he saw the rust creeping up the metal bars and the charred edges of the paper with the character for 'seal' written on it. Twin, massive eyes shone in the darkness, and the Kyuubi laughed softly - at least, softly for it.

"What do you want, you stupid fox?" Naruto asked.

"You're an interesting one," the demon said. "Even in the midst of such pain, you fought to keep my power contained."

Naruto winced. He remembered the startling familiar green eyes of the Sound kunoichi Midori. He recalled the fiery pain that consumed him, then the blessed darkness that had followed. "What of it?" he asked.

"With my power, you could defeat any foe." The Kyuubi laughed again. "Yet instead you let yourself be taken." The giant demon's eyes glowed brightly. "Foolish."

"Whatever," Naruto said. "I don't have to explain myself to you." He snorted. "Isn't about time for you to be telling me that the only way out is through or something?"

There was a sudden sensation of terrible power, an almost physical force that pushed the young ninja away from the gate. "Remember who you stand before," the demon snarled, and for an instant its sharp claws were visible in the darkness.

"Sh- shut up," Naruto managed to say as he straightened, but the terror he felt creeping in his bones was evident in his voice, and the demon only laughed once more.

"This time, I'll let you go, brat."

"Why?" Naruto asked weakly.

"Because I know it is only a matter of time until you give me what I want." The Kyuubi's giant face pressed against the bars of the gate, and the gate shuddered. "Soon enough, you will see the futility of your decision and throw this gate open yourself."

"Never." Naruto tried to put what firmness he could in his voice, but the demon only gave him a malicious, fanged grin. Naruto took an involuntary step back, and then -

Naruto groaned as he awoke, blinking his eyes wearily. He ached all over, so much that it took him almost a full minute to note that he was securely bound and slung over the shoulder of Yakushi Kabuto.

"Ah," the medical ninja said, "I see you're awake, Naruto-kun."

The genin ignored him, instead looking about as best he could from his present position. Kabuto was running, and Naruto could see two of the Sound ninja who had captured him trailing behind - that six-armed guy and the kunoichi with the flute. He thought he could hear more people from in front of Kabuto, but he couldn't see them.

"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto called out and Naruto's stomach sank. If the renegade Sannin was here, whatever slim chance he'd had of escape had vanished. "Our guest has awakened."

Suddenly, Orochimaru was behind Kabuto, right before Naruto's eyes. "So he has," the infamous missing ninja said. "I suppose we can stop for the moment."

Kabuto halted, gently putting Naruto on the ground. "I should look at your injuries, Kidoumaru-kun." The six-armed boy nodded, giving Naruto a slight glare, and went off with the medical ninja.

Naruto wasn't able to stop himself from gulping as he looked up at Orochimaru. The much older ninja smiled, and there was nothing pleasant in his expression. "So nice to finally have a chance to talk, isn't it?" he asked.

"If you have enough time to talk to him," a familiar voice said, "you have enough time to train me, Orochimaru."

The snake master's eyes narrowed dangerously. Naruto looked around frantically, his eyes finally settling on the source of the voice. "Sasuke," he snarled, for a moment almost forgetting his situation and trying to leap at the other boy.

Sasuke just snorted, his dark eyes not meeting Naruto's gaze. "Well, Orochimaru?"

"There are times when your insolence is amusing," Orochimaru said mildly. Sasuke staggered suddenly, clutching at his shoulder. "This is not one of those times," the Sannin finished, not a hint of softness remaining in his voice. "Remember your place, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke straightened, his eyes flaring crimson for just a second. Then they faded to black and he looked away. "Yes… Orochimaru-sama."

"Very good," Orochimaru said, sounding amused.

Sasuke turned around. "I'm going to go get some water," he said. Without waiting for permission, he vanished.

The pink-haired Sound kunoichi glanced at Orochimaru, who gave her a slight nod. She bowed, then vanished herself. There was an expectant pause, and then Orochimaru turned to the other Sound kunoichi. The green-eyed girl - the one with the eyes that reminded Naruto of Sakura - grimaced. "Now, now," Orochimaru chided. "I'm not asking you to actually sleep with him, Midori-chan. Just provide a bit of competition to properly motivate Tayuya-chan." He smiled. "Is that so much to ask, in return for all that I have given you?"

Midori made a disgusted face, but after several seconds she said, "No, Orochimaru-sama," and vanished herself, leaving Naruto alone with Orochimaru and the last of the young Sound ninja - Jabisen was his name, Naruto recalled. He looked quietly at his master and Naruto for just a moment, then bowed and walked off.

"My apologies for keeping you waiting, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru said mockingly, crouching down in front of the bound boy.

"What do you want, you bastard?" Naruto snarled.

"Very many things," Orochimaru answered. "But for one, this." Moving too quickly to see, he reached down Naruto's shirt and yanked away the necklace Tsunade had given him before becoming Hokage. Orochimaru held it up, letting the gem catch the sunlight for a moment. "I don't know what Tsunade-hime was thinking, giving something so precious to someone like you," he said.

"Give that back!" Naruto demanded.

"I think not," Orochimaru said. He smiled. "No doubt Tsunade-hime will thank me for returning it to her when we meet."

"You," Naruto growled. For just an instant, crimson chakra flickered around him, but then it faded.

"Wise," Orochimaru said. "I am not so gentle as Jiraiya, even if you could manage to summon that power with the drugs in your system."

Naruto blinked. He didn't feel any different. "Bastard," he said simply.

"You should be glad I have you," Orochimaru said. "Unlike Akatsuki, I have an interest in seeing you live, for now at least."

"What do you mean?"

Orochimaru smiled, and he stood, slipping the necklace into a pocket. "I see no need to tell you," he said. "Maybe if you're good, I will later." His smile vanished. "It should go without saying, Naruto-kun, but if you aren't good… well, my interest in keeping you alive is not that strong."

* * *

**Day Ninety-three**

Shimano Ren was bored. "Boring" was not how she would ever have expected to describe being the prisoner of an enemy village during wartime. Like she supposed most ninja had, she'd occasionally imagined being tortured. She'd imagined holding on to information that was more valuable then her life, perhaps winning a war by refusing to break and give the enemy what they wanted.

She now knew just how silly those fantasies were. It was one thing to imagine resisting torture. It was quite another to actually be in the hands of the enemy, knowing that they had absolute power over you. It was quite another to know, that, childish dreams aside, if they wanted you to break, you would break.

The other way reality differed from Ren's imaginings was that she knew nothing that was worth more than her relative comfort as a cooperating prisoner, much less her life. Her mission had a high risk of capture, and she and her team had wisely been told nothing of the greater war strategy. As a genin of the Hidden Mist, she knew plenty of minor secrets, but nothing that couldn't be found out with minimal difficulty by an interested person. Why should she refuse to tell the Leaf's ANBU things they almost certainly already knew?

Her easy cooperation had indeed secured her some level of comfort, but it also meant that after the first few days of her captivity the ANBU had pretty much left her alone in the converted storage room that served as her cell. She was fed regularly and adequately, though the food wasn't particularly tasty. A surprisingly sympathetic guard had even given her a novel to read, though it had proved to be a propagandistic piece of trash about the last war between the Fire and Water Countries.

She'd still read the slim book from cover to cover at least four times. It was amusingly bizarre in its own way. It was actually kind of amazing that the author was able to make even her root at least a little for the Leaf protagonists in their battles against the 'Bloody Mist.' Then again, the author hadn't been trying to make the Mist characters sympathetic at all, and anyone would look good in comparison.

Ren spent much of her time wondering just how the current war was going. Her captors' tales of unmitigated disaster for the Mist seemed about as believable as the trashy book, leaving her with nothing but speculation. She didn't even know whether the rest of her team was alive, captured, or dead, and that was the worst part.

She let out a quiet sigh as she rolled over on the cot the ANBU had given her, picking up the book once more. It wasn't like she had anything better to do. As she flipped idly through it, she frowned, glancing at the door. Had she just heard someone moving outside?

The door suddenly slipped open, admitting a familiar figure in a gray prison uniform. "Mitarashi-sensei?" Ren asked, then her eyes widened. "No, you're -"

The door shut silently behind Anko, and in less than a second she was standing in front of the Mist kunoichi, one finger pressed against Ren's lips. "Quiet, girl. I'm good, but not good enough to keep the guards from noticing if you start screaming."

Ren blinked, confused. "What do you want?" she asked softly after several seconds spent futilely trying to make sense of what was going on.

Anko looked Ren in the eyes for a moment, then answered her question with another. "Do you care about your teacher and your teammates?" she asked.

"Of course!" Ren said, just a hair too loudly. "What -"

"Shush!" Anko hissed. "Do you know who Yakushi Kabuto is?" Ren nodded. "My sister and your teammates were last seen leaving the village with him, and he said he was taking them to Orochimaru."

"So?" Ren asked. "The Sound are allies of the Mist." Anko roughly pushed down the neck of her shirt, turning to reveal three black, comma-like markings on her shoulder. "What are those?" Ren asked, a sinking feeling in her gut.

"It's called the Heaven Seal," Anko said. "One of Orochimaru's techniques. It grants incredible power, but at a terrible price." The special jounin's face was grim. "Nine-tenths of the subjects don't survive the sealing. They're the lucky ones. The survivors belong to Orochimaru."

"And you?" Ren asked suspiciously.

"He had no use for me," Anko said simply.

"Why tell me this?"

"I thought," Anko said, "that you might agree to help me save my sister's soul, and most likely your teammates' lives." The Leaf kunoichi's eyes were hard. "I know Orochimaru. He'll give Kimi this seal, given the chance. If Midori and Saburo are lucky, he won't come up with a reason not to kill them quickly."

Ren shook her head. "The Sound and the Mist are allies," she repeated. "I don't -"

"Listen to me!" Anko hissed. "Orochimaru doesn't care about treaties and alliances. My sister and your teammates are in terrible danger, and I intend to save them. You're welcome to come with me, or you can stay here and rot."

"Why should I trust you?"

"Because I'm about to break you out of here?" Anko asked irritably. "Now, answer."

Ren stood up. She wasn't certain how much she could believe what the older woman was saying, but if there was even a chance that playing along would get her out of here, it seemed worth the risk. "I'll come," she said.

"Good," Anko said, walking over to the door and opening it.

Morino Ibiki stood in the doorway, a grim expression on his face. "That was an interesting conversation, Anko," he said.

The woman took a step back. "Ibiki," she breathed.

"I'll give you a chance to come back to your cell and we can pretend this never happened," the interrogator said. Ren shrank back against the wall of the room. Was this all some theater for her benefit?

"If you listened to what I told the girl," Anko said, "you know I can't do that."

"Why not?" Ibiki asked quietly.

"She's still my sister," Anko said. "No one deserves this." Ibiki just looked at her, and her hand slowly went to her shoulder. "I know what you're thinking. I don't… I don't think it's that. If you think it is…" Anko trailed off, then swallowed. "Kill me," she said. "If he can control me this much without my knowledge, I'd rather not live."

There was silence for a long moment, and Ren swallowed nervously herself. If this was theater, both of the Leaf ninja had missed their true calling as actors. Finally, Ibiki stepped aside. "You're lucky that we're so short-handed that you're in the interrogation squad's custody instead of still with Special Dangers."

Anko grimaced. "This is precisely why I said that the interrogation squad shouldn't have custody of me in this situation," she said, then sighed. "Thank you."

"I'll cover for you as best I can," Ibiki said, "but it'll only buy you a couple of days at best."

"Thank you," Anko repeated, and then the interrogator was gone. The woman glanced back at Ren, grinning weakly at her. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

Ren stepped forward, her eyes glancing at the hand that still covered the strange seal the older woman bore. "What… what was Ibiki-san thinking? That you wanted him to kill you if…" Ren trailed off.

Anko's grin widened and seemed even less honest for it. "Oh, that," she said, false cheer in her voice. "It's just that there's a decent chance that the only reason I'm doing this is because Orochimaru wants you for some reason."

* * *

Yuuhi Kurenai's Team Eight had been given a day to rest after they finally reached the Leaf encampments. Hyuuga Hinata had spent most of that day asleep, recovering from her near-constant use of the Byakugan since their escape from the Mist-occupied Wave Country. Inuzuka Kiba had found his elder sister and enlisted her help in giving Akamaru a thorough check-up. Aburame Shino had, so far as Kurenai could tell, spent the day doing absolutely nothing. 

The jounin was glad to be reunited with her own team. Fitting into the ad hoc combat squad she'd been assigned to had been difficult, since none of the four of them had worked together before. With her own team, everyone knew their role, and though they'd hardly spoken since beginning this patrol through the forests around the Leaf encampment, they worked together in perfect harmony.

It was interesting to watch the three genin in action, though. Kurenai had only been apart from them for a relatively brief time, but there were still changes in the way they worked. Some of them had been beginning to become apparent when they'd briefly reunited before the Chuunin Exam, but now they were glaringly obvious.

Shino had always been the tactician of the three, but now he was the commander as well, a subtle but important difference. Before, each had trusted their own scouting abilities more than the others', but now there was a quiet deference to Hinata's Byakugan for looking for where the Mist were now, while Kiba and Akamaru dedicated themselves instead to finding out where the Mist had been. Shino's bugs only emerged when there was a need for a closer examination of some oddity.

Kurenai almost wished that they would run into a Mist patrol so that she could see her students in actual combat. From what she had seen thus far, had she the ability she would have had no reservations against promoting all three to chuunin rank on the spot. It was bittersweet to be forced to recognize that they no longer needed her, but it still filled her with pride. She'd managed to do it right after all.

"That rain last night made a mess of any scent trails," Kiba grumbled as the four ninja continued their patrol. "Akamaru and I aren't picking up anything."

"Not unexpected," Shino commented.

"I know," Kiba said. "It's just annoying."

Hinata activated her Byakugan briefly. "I'm not seeing anyone nearby, either," she said.

"Don't complain," Kurenai interjected, smiling. "A boring patrol is a lot better than an exciting one." Her students made various noises of agreement.

The brief interlude of conversation passed, Kurenai returned to her musings, confident enough in her students' abilities that she didn't need to dedicate her full attention to her surroundings. Indeed, the more she considered it the more she realized how unnecessary her presence was here. That was, of course, assuming that the patrol did indeed remain boring. While she had no lack of pride in her student's combat abilities, if they encountered the Mist they would be facing high-ranking chuunin and jounin. Her support could easily be the difference between victory and defeat.

"Kurenai-sensei." Hinata's quiet voice shook the young jounin from her musings.

"What is it?" Kurenai asked, just as softly. The four Leaf ninja stopped their motion, resting almost invisibly in a large tree.

"There's a Mist ninja coming," Hinata said. "He's heading straight for the camp."

"A Mist ninja?" Kurenai asked.

Hinata nodded. "Just one that I can see. He's making no effort to hide."

Shino opened his mouth, then shut it, glancing at Kurenai. The jounin just smiled. "Go ahead," she said gently.

"We should move to intercept," Shino said after several seconds. "I'll send my bugs ahead to investigate."

Kurenai nodded. "Right," she agreed, and without further discussion they began to follow Hinata to the Mist intruder. Shino sent his bugs out when Hinata signaled that they were getting close, and when they returned he nodded. Kurenai held up a single finger, and the bug user nodded again. So it seemed that either the Mist ninja's companions were well hidden or he really was alone.

"He noticed us," Hinata said suddenly. "He's stopped in a clearing about fifty yards ahead and waiting."

"Let's greet him then," Kurenai ordered, and moments later the four of them were on the ground surrounding the enemy ninja.

He raised his arms, very deliberately not tensing. "I am Kurosuki Junzo, jounin of the Hidden Mist," he said calmly, "and I request an audience with the Hokage."

Hinata's Byakugan activated. "He's not armed," she said shortly. The man favored her with a hostile glance, but wisely said nothing.

"And what is the reason for this request, Kurosuki-san?" Kurenai asked.

"I bear a message from Mizukage-sama," the Mist ninja said. Kurenai only raised an eyebrow, and after a moment he continued. "I suppose it won't hurt to tell you. Mizukage-sama wishes me to request an immediate cessation of hostilities and to arrange for a peace conference."

* * *

**Day Ninety-four**

The Hidden Village of Grass was perhaps the least hidden village Temari had ever seen. Situated in the center of the open grasslands that gave it and its country its name, the village walls - broken in several places - were visible from miles away. The Sand and Leaf Villages weren't precisely hard to see either, but at least the terrain provided some protection to them. The Grass Village seemed stupidly indefensible.

Then again, considering that she was currently part of a force planning to attack that village, Temari figured that she should probably be thankful for the stupidity of the Grass's founders. There were only eighty ninja in the attack force, and though they expected the defenders to be of similar size - the bulk of the Rain and Sound forces being in the Rain Country defending against the Sand's main attack force - attacking a more defensible position would have been… troublesome.

Temari's group was part of a force of twenty Sand ninja who had traveled through the Fire Country borderlands to search for and rally Grass survivors. They had moved quickly, and with the help of Hatanaka Iru - the Grass kunoichi who had carried word of the Grass Village's fall - they had succeeded in their mission. After a few small skirmishes in the countryside, they were now moving to liberate the fallen village.

They would have been spotted miles away, save for the Grass ninja's specialized techniques that made the strike force practically invisible in the tall grass. One of the genin under Temari's command seemed to be thinking much the same things, as he commented quietly, "With this sort of technique the Grass could turn these plains into a killing field."

"So why didn't they?" Tenma - another of Temari's subordinates - grumbled. "It would have saved us all this trouble."

"The way I understand it," Temari said, "the Rain used some story about moving to reinforce the Waterfall against the Valley to get close to the village. Once they were inside…" Temari trailed off with a shrug.

"Temari-sama," Tenma said after a moment. "I understand that we're circling around to cut off escape routes, but what's going to make the enemy leave the village? There are only a couple of squads assigned to attack directly, aren't there?"

"Yes." Temari grinned. "But my brother is in one of those squads." She didn't need to say which sibling she spoke of.

"Your brother." Tenma swallowed nervously, and the other two genin seemed just as disturbed. "Is he going to -"

"I doubt it will go that far," Temari said. She certainly hoped not anyway. It was kind of nice only fearing for her life half the time she spent with Gaara. Who knew what kind of relapse a full possession might spark? "Let's get moving," she said after a moment. "We've still got a ways to go until we're in position." She smiled evilly. "Gaara might get a little annoyed if he had to wait on us."

Perhaps she motivated her team a little too much, for they had to wait almost a quarter of an hour after they reached their assigned location a mere mile north of the Grass Village. Then, with shocking suddenness, a massive pillar of sand erupted out of the grassy plain to the south. It stood there for a moment before shaping into a gargantuan hand that slammed down onto the ruined Grass Village.

"Good gods," Tenma breathed as he stared in horrified awe.

"I hope the Grass don't mind us wrecking what's left of their village," another of Temari's genin said, his voice sickly.

Temari was a little astounded herself - even with a squad of jounin aiding his efforts, she hadn't known that Gaara could work on such a massive scale. Still, she knew better than to let her surprise show. "Don't get distracted," she snapped, unfolding her fan. "We're right in the path the enemy is going to take out of there."

Indeed, less than a minute later a young Grass ninja appeared before the Sand squad. "You have two Sound heading your way," he announced. "Likely low-ranking chuunin. I trust you will not require assistance?"

Temari shook her head, confirming out of the corner of her eye that her squad was prepared. "None. We'll deal with them." The Grass ninja bowed slightly, then disappeared into the thick grass. Temari waited until she could sense the approaching enemy, then swung her fan in one violent, smooth motion. "Great Cutting Wind!" she hissed, and the blades of wind sliced through the grass toward the Sound.

One of the Sound managed to use the Replacement Technique in time, but the other was slower and merely died messily. "Move," Temari ordered her team even as she spotted the other Sound reappearing. The Sand genin complied, racing to encircle the man.

After a long moment, he raised his hands. "I surrender!" he shouted.

Temari was before him in less than an instant. "Not like the Sound," she said simply. "I hear Orochimaru has no sympathy for failures."

The man spat. "Screw Orochimaru," he said, "and screw his village too. I didn't sign up for this."

"A recent recruit?" Temari asked.

He nodded. "Figured the Sound'd be looking for people like me after that mess you and them caused with the Leaf." He laughed bitterly. "Never thought he'd try it again so soon. Guess I should have hooked up with you Sand instead."

"Fortunate for us you didn't," Temari said distastefully, even as she gestured for one of her team to bind the man. Once that was done, she casually knocked him unconscious.

Almost a half-hour later, another Grass ninja appeared, looking fairly disturbed. "A prisoner?" he asked. "I'll take him with me."

Temari nodded. "Fine." She studied his expression. "What's wrong?"

"We're not certain," the Grass ninja said. "There's a large force heading this way from the north."

"Who?" Temari asked instantly.

"That's your job," the man replied, picking up the Sound captive. "Good luck," he added, then disappeared.

Five minutes later, thanks to cautious use of her fan to cover the distance, Temari's team was close enough to the oncoming force to see them - though hopefully not close enough to be seen themselves. "You have the binoculars, right, Tenma-kun?" the Sand kunoichi asked.

"Right." The boy handed them to her, and Temari raised them to her eyes.

"Damn it," she hissed as she identified the ninja racing toward them. Things had just gotten much, much worse. If they were here, then either they'd finally found a direct route through the mountains to the north - unlikely, since they'd been searching for decades - or the Waterfall Country was already overrun.

"What's wrong?" Tenma asked nervously. "Who are they?"

Temari lowered the binoculars. Her next words sounded as much a curse as her last. "The Hidden Rock."

* * *

The Fire Country's border with the much smaller Swamp Country was not a terribly hospitable place. Though an Aburame might have been comfortable with the swarms of insects that occasionally flew over from the marshy lowlands on the other side of the border, Sakura was not. Apparently, this particular breed of stinging insect seemed to think that pink-haired kunoichi were remarkably tasty. 

Ino gave the other girl a sympathetic grimace as Sakura swatted as a particularly persistent bug. "Just be glad we don't have to actually go into Swamp Country. It just gets worse the deeper in you go."

"Until you hit the capital, anyway," Shikamaru commented. "I think it's on the only dry ground in that country."

Eager to be distracted from the bugs, Sakura began to ask, "When did you go to -" She cut off as she remembered the answer to her question. Shikamaru and Ino had been on the mission that had discovered that the Cloud had captured Kakashi in the Swamp Country. "Sorry," she said. "I forgot for a moment."

Shikamaru just grunted. Ino opened her mouth, perhaps to give some taunt, but she seemed to think better of it, closing her mouth without saying anything. For a few moments, the only sound was Rock Lee's grunts as he struggled to kill a thousand insects with his bare hands without missing once. Then Ino spoke, her voice surprisingly quiet. "I wonder what happened to the princess."

"Ino," Shikamaru said, a hint of something Sakura couldn't interpret in his voice. Then he glanced sideways at the pink-haired girl, and she remembered the exact circumstances of the death of the Swamp Country's daimyo.

"I'm not that fragile," Sakura said softly, mostly managing to keep the memories of her mother's death at bay. She couldn't afford to break down now. Naruto needed her.

Not far away, Neji activated his Byakugan - precisely a quarter-hour from the last time he'd used it. "I see them," he said suddenly. "Kakashi-sensei and a man I don't recognize; I assume that's Jiraiya-sama."

In less than an instant, Shizune was beside him. "How do they look?"

"The other man is supporting Kakashi-sensei," Neji answered. "They're moving pretty slowly."

Sakura couldn't contain her impatience. "Let's get moving," she suggested. "The sooner we reach them…"

"Take us to where they'll cross the border," Shizune ordered Neji, and in a matter of seconds they were there. The next few minutes passed agonizingly slowly for Sakura, but finally the two men came into view.

Sakura wasn't able to stop herself, and she raced forward to meet them, taking the weak Kakashi from a grateful Jiraiya, who close-up seemed rather tired himself. "Kakashi-sensei," Sakura managed to say, her voice breaking as she supported her teacher.

Kakashi's visible eye glanced at her, and he smiled weakly behind his mask. "Hello, Sakura-chan," he said, clearly taking in her uniform vest and her forehead protector - worn properly now. "I see you passed the exams."

Jiraiya smiled himself. "Hardly surprising, since she's Tsunade's apprentice."

Even in the current situation, Sakura's pride was offended enough that she had to snort. "Tsunade-sama didn't make me her apprentice until after the exams," she said shortly. Sure, becoming a chuunin wasn't much to a legendary Sannin, but she didn't like having her achievement belittled like that.

"That so?" Jiraiya asked, giving her a clearly measuring look. "I didn't mean it that way, in any case."

Sakura didn't respond, as they'd reached the rest of the group. At a gesture from Shizune, she helped Kakashi lie down, and then Shizune was kneeling over him, green chakra glowing around her hands. The older woman cursed as she started to work. "What the hell were you doing to wreck your chakra system like this, Hatake?"

Jiraiya let out a bark of bitter laughter. "He tried to take on that Kabuto kid and the Uchiha brat when he shouldn't have been channeling any chakra at all."

"What drugs did the Cloud use?" Shizune asked, but Sakura didn't pay any attention as Kakashi weakly answered. It wasn't hard to figure out who Jiraiya meant by "the Uchiha brat."

It was actually Ino who spoke first, glancing at Sakura. "Sasuke-kun."

Shikamaru grunted, mumbling something that was probably "troublesome" under his breath. Rock Lee straightened suddenly, clenching his fists. Neji's face was hard, and he glanced at the two young kunoichi, then at the other boys. Sakura didn't need the Byakugan to know what they were thinking. Could she and Ino be counted on if it came down to fighting Sasuke?

Jiraiya seemed to notice the effect his comment had caused, and he looked carefully at the gathered chuunin. "I'm afraid I only know Sakura-chan here," he said, giving Sakura another look. For a moment, Sakura thought she saw his eyes widen in surprise, but then his expression was normal again.

"Hyuuga Neji," the silver-eyed boy said after a moment.

Jiraiya nodded. "Hizashi's son?" Neji just nodded.

"Rock Lee," his rival introduced himself, and then Shikamaru and Ino followed suit.

"You all probably haven't heard of me," Jiraiya said self-deprecatingly, "but my name's Jiraiya. I've been training Naruto-kun."

Shikamaru nodded. "Can you tell us how Naruto was taken?"

The Sannin nodded himself. "I wasn't there, but Kakashi-kun's told me what he can." He quickly laid out how he'd been separated from Naruto, fighting off some other enemy while a genjutsu created by the Sound lured Naruto away into an ambush. "They fought well," Jiraiya said finally, "but they were outmatched and Naruto-kun sacrificed himself to let Kakashi-kun escape."

"One of the Sound had six arms, huh?" Shikamaru said, glancing at Neji.

The Hyuuga nodded. "I'll handle him," he said shortly.

"We're not going to fight one-on-one if I can help it," Shikamaru said. "I'll need to talk with Kakashi about exactly what abilities the Sound showed so I can work on a plan."

"Shouldn't that be Shizune-chan's concern?" Jiraiya asked idly.

Shikamaru blinked. "It is," he said, "but it's mine also, Jiraiya-sama. I am second in command." He hesitated, then added, "Even if I wasn't, we should still know."

Jiraiya nodded. "I suppose so," He wandered over to Sakura, giving her a careful look. "So if it wasn't Tsunade-sama," he said quietly, his voice too casual, "and Kakashi-kun was… indisposed, who trained you for the exams?"

Sakura followed his eyes to the bandage covering her snake tattoo, and unthinkingly her other hand covered it. "Mitarashi Anko," she said shortly. "And others."

Jiraiya nodded. "I figured as much," he said. He glanced at the other chuunin. "Do they know?" he asked, his lips barely moving.

Sakura nodded. "Neji-kun and Shikamaru-kun for sure," she said a moment later. "The others probably. I… pretty much made it clear in the semi-finals of the third exam."

"I hope no one gave you too much trouble," Jiraiya said seriously.

"Not as much as Naruto's neighbors gave me over -" Sakura cut off suddenly.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "You figured it out, huh? Or did Tsunade tell you?"

"I figured it out," Sakura answered. "Shikamaru-kun knows too."

"And you're both still here," Jiraiya said. "Good."

Before Sakura could respond, Shizune stood. "I think I have him stable, Jiraiya-sama," she announced loudly. "He's going to need medical care all the way back to the village, though. I'll take care of him, if you'll take command here, Jiraiya-sama."

The Sannin grimaced. "I'm afraid I can't do that."

Shizune's eyes widened. "What? You don't seem that injured."

"It's not that," Jiraiya said. "I'm needed elsewhere." He sighed. "Where is Tsunade right now?"

"With the war force," Shizune answered. "Why?"

"Orochimaru told me he was going to kill her. In… a bit less than a week, I believe." Jiraiya's face was grim. "I'm not going to let that happen."

"And you believe him?" Shizune asked.

"You know Orochimaru too, Shizune-chan. Whatever his faults, he does what he says he'll do."

"We need to discuss this," Shizune said. "In private."

"Of course," Jiraiya said simply.

Shizune glanced at Sakura. "Kakashi-san wants to talk to you," she said before walking off with the legendary Sannin.

In moment, Sakura was kneeling beside her teacher, who was still lying down. The other chuunin kept a respectful distance away from the pair. "Are you okay, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked.

"I've been better," he admitted, and Sakura thought she caught a hint of a grin behind his mask. That vanished as he studied her. "It seems I've failed Naruto and you again."

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura began.

"No," he interrupted. "It's obvious just from looking that you've learned more while I've been gone then the whole time I had you."

"I wasn't always as good a student as I should have been," Sakura said.

Kakashi shook his head. "I don't need you to make excuses for me, Sakura-chan," he said. He took a deep breath. "Sakura-chan," he said after several seconds. "Sasuke-kun is with the Sound who took Naruto."

"I know," Sakura said quietly. "I… I think I can fight him if I have to."

Kakashi studied her for a moment. "If it comes to that," he said, "remember that any technique you show him while he has the Sharingan active he can copy and use against you. He'll also be able to see through most genjutsu."

"I know," Sakura repeated.

"Don't look into his eyes," Kakashi added.

Sakura wasn't able to stop herself from laughing. At her teacher's puzzled look, she said, "I've fought doujutsu users before."

"I see." Kakashi was silent for several seconds before speaking again. "Sakura-chan… if he uses Chidori, run. I can tell you've grown, but Sasuke-kun's been training with Orochimaru. If he's willing to strike to kill you…" Kakashi trailed off, and Sakura couldn't think of anything to say to break the awkward silence.

* * *

**Day Ninety-five**

Naruto groaned as he woke up. "Wha -"

"Right on time, Naruto-kun." Kabuto's cheery voice was enough to instantly bring Naruto to full wakefulness. Unfortunately, with that came the knowledge that he was once again securely bound and being carried by the rogue medical ninja. A quick look around showed most of the same Sound ninja surrounding them, though Naruto couldn't see Sasuke or Orochimaru. "Where," he began.

"Orochimaru-sama had to leave us, I'm afraid," Kabuto replied, "which is why I haven't let you awaken until now. I'm quite certain you would have been most troublesome otherwise."

"Sasuke," Naruto demanded.

"He's around," Kabuto said calmly. "Trying to avoid Tayuya-chan and Midori-chan most likely." Though he couldn't see the medical ninja's face, Naruto could feel him smile coldly. "If he doesn't get over it soon, I may have to take steps."

Naruto blinked. "What do you mean?"

"That's none of your business, Naruto-kun," Kabuto said. "And in any case, I believe we're here."

Naruto looked up, over his captor's shoulder, to see a vaguely familiar, small structure. Just barely visible in the dark entrance was a flight of stairs leading down into the ground. Naruto blinked again as he remembered where he had seen it before. "I know Ero-sennin blew this place up!"

His sudden shout drew attention from the Sound ninja, and Tayuya snorted. "It's summoned, idiot," she said, then without further words stalked inside. Kidoumaru sighed and followed her.

Kabuto shook his head sadly as he put Naruto down, cutting the ropes that bound the young boy's legs. "Given what Orochimaru-sama said of your performance in the Cloud Village, I believe I can trust you to not try anything stupid."

Naruto glared at the man, but he was quickly distracted as Sasuke reappeared. Their eyes met for just an instant, then Sasuke snorted and looked away. Midori took a hesitating step toward him, but a glare from the Uchiha stopped her in her tracks. "I'll be in my quarters, Kabuto," he said, and then he vanished.

Kabuto shook his head. "You should be more assertive, Midori-chan."

"Shut up," the kunoichi snarled.

Kabuto smiled, but there was menace in his smile. "I will let that pass this once, Midori-chan."

The green-eyed girl stiffened. "My apologies," she said after a moment's hesitation. "I… will try." Her face twisted, and more than a bit of disgust was plain in her voice.

"Very good," Kabuto said. His voice was almost gentle, but somehow he managed to turn that gentleness into an implied threat, at least to Naruto's ears.

Midori looked like she was about to say something, but before she could a boy who looked about Naruto's age charged up the stairs that led to the underground Sound Village, breathing heavily. It took Naruto a moment to realize that the forehead protector he wore bore the Mist's sigil, rather than the Sound's. "Midori," he said, then paused to catch his breath.

"Saburo." The green-eyed girl's voice was frosty.

"Are you… okay?"

"Fine." Midori stared at the Mist ninja, but he didn't meet her eyes. After a long silence, Midori looked away.

Then a woman who seemed vaguely familiar to Naruto also emerged from the shadowed stairs. Naruto stared at her for several moments, noting that she wore no forehead protector, before he placed her. Then he took a step back. "Wh… what are you doing here?"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "I don't believe we've met… Naruto-kun, isn't it?"

"Yes we did! You're that crazy examiner woman!" The woman twitched, and Naruto backed away again. Kabuto began to laugh. "What's so funny?" Naruto demanded.

"My name is Mitarashi Kimi," the woman said firmly. "You're thinking of my sister Anko." The way she said the Leaf ninja's name made her hatred clear.

Kabuto laughed again. "Now, now, Mitarashi-san. You have to admit that the two of you look very much alike."

"I suppose." Kimi studied Naruto for several moments, then her attention returned to Kabuto. "What news of my sister?"

Kabuto shrugged. "She knows you are here by now, I'm sure," he said simply, and then he suddenly pushed Naruto forward roughly. "Let's get you to your… quarters, Naruto-kun."

* * *

Sakura swallowed nervously nervously as she stared down the cliff side into the Valley of the End. Knowing what to look for, she could see the destruction Naruto and Sasuke's battle had caused even from this height. In the months since that battle - and in the weeks since she had last stood here - Sakura had grown stronger. But had she grown strong enough to have any chance in a battle that scarred solid rock like that? 

It wasn't like Sasuke would have been standing still either. It was just like Kakashi had said. She had grown much, but Sasuke had been training with Orochimaru all this time. It wasn't hard to guess that Sasuke would be strong, much stronger than Sakura was. Probably stronger than any of the five chuunin on this mission, maybe even strong enough to give Shizune trouble. Sasuke wouldn't be the only foe they would be facing, either.

"Something wrong?" came Neji's quiet voice, soft enough that it was almost drowned out by the thunder of the waterfall that lay between the two massive statues. It was unlikely that any of the others had heard him; besides Sakura herself and the Hyuuga, only Ino was standing at the cliff side, and the blonde was some distance away. The rest were farther back, resting while Shizune tended to Kakashi and made plans with Jiraiya and Shikamaru.

It had been hard to see Kakashi so weak, and he had only weakened as the journey continued, even with Shizune's near-constant attention. If Sakura had harbored any doubt as to the medical ninja's assessment that Kakashi needed the treatment only a stay in real hospital could give him, it would have been gone by now. Until today, the way back to the Leaf Village and the way they needed to head had been close enough that they had traveled as one group. Now they were going to need to split.

"Sakura-san?" Neji said, and Sakura realized that she had been so lost in thought that she hadn't responded to his question.

She shook her head. "Nothing's wrong." It was obvious that the Hyuuga knew she was lying, but he didn't press her, instead simply nodding and walking away, his eyes scanning the opposite shore for any sign of enemy ninja.

As though his leaving was a signal, Ino approached, within seconds standing almost exactly where the male ninja had. "Tell me what's wrong," she ordered.

Sakura forced herself to smile, half-turning to face the other kunoichi. "Nothing's wrong," she said. "I just told Neji-san that too."

Ino snorted. "Don't be even more of an idiot than usual, Forehead. If you really didn't think there was anything wrong, that would be something wrong with you."

Sakura wasn't able to stop herself from stopping slightly, but her mirth faded as her eyes went back to the valley floor below. "I was here once before," she said slowly. Hesitatingly, she told Ino how she had come here before the third exam with Kurenai's team, and after a moment's further delay she even mentioned how she had broken down.

"I see," Ino said. She stared at the valley floor for a moment herself, her hands idly toying with her forehead protector. Sakura stared at it, tied around the other girl's waist, and her own forehead protector - worn properly - felt very heavy. "Sasuke-kun and Naruto are that strong, huh?" Ino finally asked.

Sakura nodded weakly. "Yes." She clenched her fists.

Ino sighed, shaking her head as she turned away from the valley. "Don't worry, Forehead. We'll get them back."

"How?"

Ino laughed shortly. "I don't know, that's Shikamaru's job, not mine. He's the genius." Her expression turned serious. "This isn't exactly a weak group either, you know," she said. "We've got Neji-san and Lee-san… and you."

Sakura blinked. "Me?" she asked disbelievingly.

There was a pause, and then Ino laughed again. Though she tried to hide it, Sakura couldn't help but notice the hint of bitterness in that laugh. "You really are an idiot, Forehead. Yes, you."

"I'm not that -"

Ino cut Sakura off. "You fought Hyuuga Neji toe-to-toe and almost won," she said irritably.

"That's not," Sakura began to protest, but Ino kept talking right over her.

"If you're weak," she said, eyes flaring, "what the hell does that make me?" Her expression darkened, and she turned away.

"Ino," Sakura breathed. "You aren't -"

Once again, Ino didn't let the pink-haired girl finish. "What? I'm not blind. I'm here because Shikamaru works well with me and because my abilities are useful, not because I'm expected to do much good in a fight compared to you four."

Sakura was silent a moment, and then she spoke. "So?" she asked. "None of us are that good, compared to that," she said, and now she gestured at the valley floor. "I decided a while back that I wasn't just going to sit back and watch their backs. I thought you weren't just going to watch mine."

"I'm not," Ino said after several seconds. "I'm not," she repeated, more loudly. "And you'd better believe it, Forehead."

Sakura smiled weakly. "Good."

Before Ino could say anything else, Shizune spoke loudly from behind them. "Everybody over here," she said. "We need to talk."

In a moment, the whole group was together. Kakashi was seated on a log, coughing weakly but looking relatively hale. Jiraiya squatted beside him, his face grim. Shikamaru stood next to Shizune, looking even more uncomfortable.

"Shizune-sama?" Neji asked after the silence had stretched out for almost half a minute.

"Right," the woman said. "Here's the deal. I need to take Kakashi-san back to the village. Jiraiya-sama also has his own business and will also be leaving." Sakura swallowed, remembering the Sannin's statement that Orochimaru was planning to kill the Hokage.

"So we're going to be on our own?" Ino asked.

"Temporarily," Shizune said. "I will be rejoining you as soon as possible. Shikamaru-kun will be in command until then."

Shikamaru nodded shortly. "Here's the plan," he said. "There's a clan in Rice Field Country that's been working with the Leaf against Orochimaru, the Fuuma." He glanced at Sakura. "I'm told you know them, Sakura."

The pink-haired chuunin nodded. "Right."

"We're going to travel to one of their fortresses," Shikamaru continued, "and find out what sort of information and aid they'll be able to give us. Once that's done, we will attempt to locate where Naruto is being held."

"One of my shadow replications was able to trail Orochimaru to the Rice Field border," Jiraiya said. "I've told Shikamaru-kun where they crossed. If worse comes to worse, you can track them from there."

"And I can help you with that," Kakashi said weakly. He pulled out a scroll and then coughed again, his visible eye sweeping the gathered chuunin. "Sakura-chan," he said after a moment.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei," she answered, taking the scroll.

"You remember Pakkun?" the jounin asked, and Sakura nodded. "You can summon him using that scroll. He knows Naruto and Sasuke's scents, and can probably figure out Orochimaru's easily enough."

Now Shikamaru spoke again. "Unless a good opportunity or a pressing need to rescue Naruto presents itself," he said, "once we've found him we'll stay in hiding and monitor the situation until Shizune-sama returns."

"You all understand?" Shizune asked, and there were nods all around. "All right then. Let's get moving," she said, helping Kakashi stand. "I'll be back as quickly as I can." She hesitated briefly, then added, "Good luck."

* * *

**Day Ninety-six**

Kiba was arguing with his dog, Hyuuga Hinata noted as she activated her Byakugan to scout the surrounding area. She always focused on Kiba for that first instant, when she had to focus on something or be swept away by the sudden torrent of information produced by her newly expanded sense of vision. At first, she'd focused on Kurenai, but that had been before she'd learned of the reason for the patterns of scars covered by the jounin's clothing. Now, whenever Hinata looked at Kurenai with her Byakugan, she thought of torture.

Focusing on Shino was out of the question. Hinata was much more used to him than she'd ever thought she would have become when the quiet boy had first revealed the nature of his clan's techniques. The sight of bugs crawling out from under Shino's concealing jacket disturbed her no more than seeing Akamaru resting on Kiba's head. It was quite another matter, though, to see with perfect clarity each and every insect crawling around beneath his skin, to count the holes and passageways they had made, to watch most of her teammate's chakra be continuously consumed, to be able to see the damage that did to his chakra circulatory system.

It was far safer to focus on Kiba. It was interesting, learning to read what passed between him and Akamaru. With the Byakugan, she could at least partially read the dog's emotions, even if she couldn't understand him like Kiba did. With the much more readable human as the other end of the conversation, she could generally catch the gist, though. If she concentrated on the pair hard enough, sometimes she thought she saw wisps of chakra passing between them.

"Hey, Hinata," the boy said suddenly, coming to a stop in the branches of a large tree.

The Hyuuga heiress flushed briefly, deactivating her Byakugan and wondering whether he had noticed her study as she landed smoothly beside him. A moment later, Shino and Kurenai joined them. "Something wrong, Kiba-kun?" the jounin asked softly.

"N… I'm not sure," Kiba said glancing at Akamaru, who let out a quiet whine. "I need Hinata to focus over there." He pointed at a patch of ground not far away from the tree they in which they stood. "Akamaru says there's something there, but I can't see or smell anything."

Kurenai's crimson eyes turned to the younger kunoichi. "Hinata?"

"Right," she answered, and the blood vessels around her eyes bulged as she reactivated her Bloodline Limit. She forced her way through the sudden chaos of perception, narrowing her focus on the patch of ground Kiba had pointed to. "Nothing," she said instantly, relaxing her focus and checking the surrounding area for anything suspicious.

Akamaru whined again, and Hinata frowned. She could tell that the dog was very upset about something. Slowly, she returned her focus to the patch of ground, and once more saw nothing. She shook her head, and Akamaru let out an upset bark. A flash of irritation passed through Hinata. How many time did the damn dog want her to -

The kunoichi took a deep breath. It wasn't like her to be so annoyed at Akamaru. A third time she focused on the patch of ground. A third time, her all-seeing gaze saw nothing. Reflexively, she began to relax her eyes, and she frowned again, her hands forming another seal. "Release!" she hissed, but again she saw nothing, and this time she did deactivate her Byakugan. "I don't see anything," she said.

Kurenai was frowning, and then in a blur of motion she was on the ground. Her eyes closed, and even without her enhanced senses Hinata thought she could see her teacher channeling chakra. "Release!" the jounin almost shouted, and then she opened her eyes. The older woman started, then almost ran over to the patch of ground in question. As she stepped into it, Hinata could suddenly see the four nude bodies that had been lying there all along.

In an instant, all three genin stood next to their teacher. "Damn," Kiba breathed.

Hinata glanced at Akamaru, then said, "Sorry. I don't know how -"

"It's not your fault," Kurenai said shortly, wiping sweat from her forehead. "That was a master-level genjutsu. Maybe even stronger than I could manage to create." She took a deep breath. "It's like a weak 'don't notice me' suggestion, but many times stronger and nastier. It doesn't matter what your eyes saw, Hinata, you were just going to ignore it." She bit at her lip. "Who the hell is strong enough to do this?"

"That's not really the question," Shino said. At his teammates' questioning gaze, he pointed at the smooth, featureless faces of the bodies.

"Why -" Kiba began, but he cut off as he, along with the other two genin, noticed their teacher's sudden fear. "Kurenai-sensei?"

The jounin took another deep breath, visibly calming herself. Her mouth opened, but it took her several tries to speak. When she did, all she said was a name. "Orochimaru."

* * *

"I think we're done," Shizune said slowly, raising an arm to wipe the sweat from her forehead. The medical ninja seated across from her nodded, and then the other two made their own agreement plain. One stifled a yawn - not surprising, since he had been woken up in the middle of the night when Shizune and her two companions had reached the village. "Let's wake him up then," Shizune said, and she reached out to disrupt the pattern painted in blood on the floor between the four medics. 

Almost instantly, Hatake Kakashi, lying in the center of the pattern, began to groan. His normal eye opened slowly, and he winced. "Hurts."

"We almost had to rebuild your entire chakra circulatory system from scratch, Kakashi-san," Shizune said. "It's going to hurt for a few weeks at least."

The weak jounin forced himself to nod, glancing in turn at each of the ninja who had operated on him. "Thank you," he said.

One of the medics rose. "I'll let them know we're done so Hatake-sama can be moved to a room to rest."

Shizune nodded, standing herself. "Right," she said. "I should go check in with Homura-sama and Koharu-sensei. I'm sure they'll want to see me." She glanced at the remaining two medical ninja. "Stay a moment later to keep an eye on Kakashi-san, and then you can go to get some rest."

"Yes, sir," the two responded, even as the third made his way to the door.

Shizune followed that medic outside, and she wasn't surprised to see Jiraiya sleeping on a bench in the hallway. He awoke instantly, seeming fully alert. "Did everything go well?"

"As well as can be expected," Shizune said. The other medic hesitated, then continued on his way. "He'll need weeks of bed rest, but he'll recover fully."

"Good." Jiraiya rubbed at his eyes. "I should get going then. There's no time to waste." He yawned and stood.

"You're not going anywhere," Shizune said firmly.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "And why is that, Shizune-chan?"

"For one, you can wait a few hours so we can make sure that all of Orochimaru's poison is flushed out of your system," Shizune said.

"True," Jiraiya agreed cautiously.

"Secondly," Shizune continued, "there is no way you're leaving me to explain this mess to Homura-sama and Koharu-sensei alone." Shizune's eyes flared. "Is that understood?"

Jiraiya smiled crookedly. "Yes, Tsunade-hime."

Shizune flushed for just an instant. "I'm serious, Jiraiya-sama," she said after a moment, more respectful but no less firm. "It was all I could do to get them to approve the mission in the first place, and I told them you'd be able to help. Who knows what they'll do now?"

"I said yes," Jiraiya replied mildly. "Let's go take care of that now. I'll stand in the corner and glower at them if they give you any trouble." He grinned. "If worse comes to worse, remind them that you're acting as Hokage and they're just a couple of old has-beens that Tsunade just hasn't gotten around to replacing yet."

"What an… interesting sentiment," Mitokado Homura said from behind Jiraiya.

Jiraiya glanced at Shizune, who shrugged. "You could have warned me," he muttered, then he turned to face the older man.

"From the tone of your discussion," Homura said, "I assume you have bad news, but that can wait until I've had my turn." He sighed, turning to Shizune. "There's no easy way to say this."

The Hokage's assistant stiffened. "What is it?"

"I regret to inform you that we've been forced to designate Mitarashi Anko as missing ninja and issued appropriate orders to our hunter ninja squads."

There was a moment of shocked silence, and it was Jiraiya who spoke first. "Explain," he said shortly.

"We're still trying to find out the details, but it appears that Mitarashi-san broke out of confinement, freed one of the Mist prisoners we've taken, and left the village heading for the Rice Field Country." Homura grimaced.

"Why was Anko-chan in confinement in the first place?" Jiraiya asked.

Shizune answered him. "During the Mist attack, she activated her cursed seal."

The legendary Sannin's shoulder's slumped, and he suddenly seemed much older than even Homura. "Damn Orochimaru," he muttered, half under his breath.

"I can't believe," Shizune muttered, then trailed off. She frowned deeply, then asked, "Which prisoner did Anko-chan free?"

"Her sister's student, Shimano Ren," Homura responded. "Probably for something personal, since the hunter ninja would be more valuable."

Jiraiya blinked. "Anko-chan has a sister?"

"Working for the Mist," Shizune said distractedly, rubbing at her forehead.

"You know something?" Homura prompted.

"I suspect," Shizune said, "that someone told Anko-chan that her sister and her other two students left the village with Yakushi Kabuto."

"Why would that," Homura began, then he stopped. "Oh."

"That would amuse Orochimaru," Jiraiya said grimly.

Homura frowned. "It would." He hesitated, then said, "It doesn't change anything though. It might make it worse, since Anko would be doing this of her own free will."

Shizune took a deep breath. "I want the hunter ninja given orders to take Anko-chan alive if at all possible," she said firmly.

"They already have," Homura said irritably. "We haven't got enough ninja left to waste one like her if there's even a possibility she can be saved." His frown deepened. "Besides, if I gave the hunter ninja squad orders to kill on sight, they might just ignore them."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "The hunter ninja squads protecting a missing ninja?" he asked disbelievingly.

"They've always been close to the interrogation squad," Homura said. "There's no evidence, but I'm almost certain Morino Ibiki and the interrogation squad were complicit in Mitarashi-san's escape with the Mist girl." His gaze turned to Shizune. "I suspect as soon as he learns you've returned he'll come to you to try and get you to say Mitarashi-san is on a secret mission from you."

"I see," Shizune said flatly.

Homura sighed. "Now that that's dealt with, perhaps you'd care to explain how you managed to misplace my great-granddaughter and the other chuunin?"

* * *

**Day Ninety-seven**

Shimano Ren swallowed nervously as she stared at the dark entrance what her teacher's sister claimed was the Hidden Village of Sound. Unless the underground chambers were truly massive, it seemed a little small for that to Ren. Hadn't she heard that the Sound Village was in the northern Rice Field Country near the coast, too? The Mist genin glanced sideways at the disturbingly familiar purple-haired woman who stood beside her.

"What is it?" Mitarashi Anko asked distractedly as she she picked up a small snake. The animal hissed, and the special jounin nodded once. "You'll get the sacrifice," she said to the snake, and it vanished in a tiny puff of smoke.

"Mitara- my teacher is in there?" Ren asked.

Anko nodded firmly. "And your teammates," she said. "We're lucky that there's not many Sound about. No more than a half-dozen or so people other than your team."

"That's it?" Ren asked disbelievingly. "I thought you said this was the Sound Village?"

"There could be a few more," Anko added, "but not that many." She sighed. "I called it the Sound Village because that's what Orochimaru and his men call it," she explained, "but a lot of the infrastructure of a hidden village is elsewhere."

"In the north," Ren stated, her eyes narrowing as she considered this.

"The Sound - or Orochimaru's inner circle, at least - call that the mock village." Anko paused, then continued, "This place is mobile, a summoned fortress. I suppose you could call it the Sound's hidden heart."

Ren nodded, but not for the first time she wondered just what she was going to do here. The Sound and the Mist were allies, and Anko's stories aside there was no reason to suspect that her team was in any danger. But if they weren't, why would Anko have rescued her from the Leaf?

The Leaf kunoichi rubbed at her shoulder, where Ren knew the strange black markings rested. "I feel something," the older woman mumbled, half to herself, "but thank all the gods, I don't believe Orochimaru himself is here. We might just stand a chance."

Ren pushed her doubts aside for the moment. Regardless of what the situation was in truth, there was no reason not to act as though she believed Anko for now. "What are we to do, then?" she asked quietly, automatically checking the slim stocks of weapons Anko had given her to make sure they were all in place.

"Well, we aren't going to walk in the front door." Anko smiled grimly. "We'll use an earth element technique to sneak inside. Tell me," she said, "who do you trust more? My sister or the boy on your team?"

Ren raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"That bitchy girl is with a couple of Sound. Sparring, it seems. My sister and your other teammate are by themselves, though Kimi is closer to the Sound. More important is which one you think won't immediately sound an alarm before we have chance to talk."

"Your snake got all that? Wouldn't they have noticed if it got so close?" Ren asked, ignoring Anko's own question.

"Orochimaru likes snakes," the older woman said. "There are plenty of them in there, and no one will notice another one underfoot."

"Oh." Ren was silent for a moment. "I trust them both," she finally said.

"Then we'll go for the boy," Anko stated firmly. "He's farther away and much less likely to attack me on sight."

"All right," Ren said. "What do I do?"

"Take my hand," the older kunoichi answered, "and follow me through. There's going to be alarms, so move exactly as I move. I'll only be able to create small holes in the wards." She held out her hand.

"Right," Ren said softly, grasping Anko's hand. Instantly, they began to fall into the earth, and Ren almost screamed at the strange sensation. She could feel her body becoming one with the rock and soil, while at the same time she could feel the earth melting away from her. The only piece of stability in this sudden chaos was the feel of the other ninja's hand, and she swam after Anko as best she could.

"Careful here," she somehow heard the Leaf ninja say, and a moment later the texture of the earth changed slightly. Somewhat more used to the sensations, Ren could feel where Anko had passed ahead of her and stuck to that path. "Good girl," Anko said, and moments later they burst out of a stone wall and into a small room.

Aoki Saburo jumped away from them, a kunai in his hands. "Who are… Ren?!"

Gasping almost joyfully for breath, it took the young kunoichi a moment to answer. "Yes," she said, releasing her escort's hand. She glanced about the room, noting the sole, shut door.

Her teammate relaxed slightly, but didn't put away his weapon. He stared at Anko for several seconds. "You're Mitarashi-sensei's sister," he said disbelievingly. "What the hell are you doing here with Ren?"

Anko smiled. "I broke her out of prison and we're here to get you out of here."

Saburo blinked, and Ren tensed. His reaction was going to say a lot about the Leaf jounin's truthfulness. She did her best to surreptitiously study the woman. It didn't seem like she expected a tapestry of lies to start coming apart, and Ren couldn't imagine to what ends she would still be trying to hold her story together if it was false.

Saburo put away his kunai. "Thank the gods," he breathed.

"Saburo?" Ren asked. Anko had been telling the truth, or something close enough to it, it seemed. "What happened?"

"After the battle," Saburo said. He suddenly froze, staring at Anko in horror as though he'd suddenly remembered something.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Anko snapped. "If I was, you'd both already be dead." She grimaced, looking away. "I wasn't exactly myself the last time you saw me."

Saburo nodded after a moment. "I know that," he said, his voice cold, and Ren could tell that his hand was hovering over the hilt of his recently re-sheathed kunai. "I know what that was. How can I trust you?"

Ren blinked, glancing between the two. What was he talking about? She swallowed as she remembered how Anko had explained the dark markings on her shoulder. "Nine-tenths of the subjects don't survive the sealing. They're the lucky ones. The survivors belong to Orochimaru," the jounin had said.

"Damn it," the Leaf kunoichi breathed, and it wasn't hard for Ren to figure out why.

"Orochimaru already," she began to ask her teammate, a sinking feeling in her gut.

Saburo nodded. "To Mitarashi-sensei and Midori," he said grimly. "Since they woke up, they've been…" he trailed off, and after a long moment he spoke again, but he didn't continue the sentence. "Midori's started wearing a Sound forehead protector." Ren paled.

"And my sister?" Anko asked.

"She's not wearing any," Saburo answered, "but… she doesn't seem to disapprove."

"Damn it," Anko repeated. "All right," she said. "Let's get the hell out of here before anyone notices we're here."

"What about Mitarashi-sensei and Midori?" Ren demanded. "Are we just going to leave them?"

"If they willingly accepted Orochimaru's cursed seals, they won't leave without a fight," Anko said. "We're in no position to win that fight."

"We have to do something!" Ren glanced pleadingly at Saburo.

He looked away. "I don't know. They're… different, Ren. Ever since…"

"They're our comrades," Ren said, and Saburo nodded after a moment.

"It'll be risky," Anko said after a moment, "but I suppose we have to try." The last sounded more than a little unhappy to Ren, but the jounin made no further objections.

Saburo nodded. "Right," he said. "Thank you." He hesitated, and then he said, "A couple of days ago, Midori came back from a mission for the Sound." He stopped again.

"What is it?" Ren asked, and Anko looked just as curious.

"Even in this situation it feels like being a traitor," the boy mumbled, but then he spoke in a firmer voice. "They brought back a Leaf prisoner and acted like he was pretty important."

Anko stiffened. "Who?"

"A blond boy, about my age. Midori acted like taking him somehow hurt that Sakura girl," Saburo said. "His name is Naruto, I think."

The Leaf jounin looked at him in horror. "Uzumaki Naruto?" she asked weakly.

Saburo frowned, but after a moment he nodded. "I think so," he said, and Anko let loose a torrent of curses more vile than anything Ren had heard before.

"Mitarashi-san?" she said.

"Who is he?" Saburo asked.

"You don't need to know," Anko said, interrupting her invectives. "What you do need to know is that his rescue just became my top priority."

"That important?" Ren asked dubiously. "A kid about our age?"

"Yes," Anko said simply.

"So what are we going to do?" Saburo asked nervously.

"I can't let you risk things by contacting my sister now," Anko said after a moment. "She hates me too much. But the other girl… if you think you can get her to leave quietly, you can try. Just be careful, and don't push things."

"Right," Saburo answered.

"Here's the plan," Anko said, leaving no room for argument. "Ren, you stay here. Saburo, you come with me. Point me in the direction of where Naruto is being held, then get Midori and bring her here. Whatever you do, don't tell her what's going on, and don't let her leave or sound an alarm once she's here. Got it?"

"What if things go wrong?" Ren asked. "We're kind of trapped in here unless you can lead us through the earth again."

Anko frowned, then pulled out an explosive tag, placing it on the stone wall near where she and Ren had emerged. She muttered under her breath, forming a rapid sequence of seals. "There," she said finally. "Activate that seal normally, and it'll blow a tunnel straight up the path we took."

"A single explosive tag?" Saburo asked, and Ren had to nod in agreement at his disbelief.

"The technique we used to get here already weakened the earth along the path," Anko said, "and you have no idea how much chakra I just burned on that." She grinned weakly. "Trust me; it'll work." She straightened, and Ren realized that she'd be wavering slightly since finishing her technique. "Saburo, let's go."

Ren watched them leave, then after several moments staring at the closed door positioned herself so that she wouldn't be visible from the hallway outside. After that, she could only settle down and wait. Minutes crawled by painfully slowly, and automatically Ren's mind conjured up visions of disaster that grew more and more dire with every passing moment.

Footsteps sounded from the hallway outside, and Ren tensed. She relaxed slightly as she heard a familiar voice. "- lucky Tayuya-san didn't kill you," Haruno Midori said said sourly.

Ren could hear Saburo laugh weakly. "You would have protected me, right, Midori-chan?" The kunoichi didn't respond, and a sick feeling settled in Ren's gut. The door swung open and Ren pressed herself up against the wall.

Midori came in, supporting a stumbling Saburo. "Honestly," she muttered, sounding more like herself than Ren had hoped, "you're such an idiot, Saburo." The boy grinned weakly, then shoved himself away from her, pushing the door shut. "What -" Midori stopped in mid-sentence, her green eyes widening.

Ren forced a smile, but wasn't able to stop herself from staring at the musical note on the other girl's forehead protector. "Hi, Midori."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Midori asked excitedly. "How -"

"Mitarashi-sensei's sister broke me out," Ren answered. "To come and rescue you."

Midori blinked. "That examiner bitch?" Her eyes narrowed. "She's here?" Ren could sense a hint of fear in her voice. What had Anko done to Midori and Saburo after she'd been captured?

Ren and Saburo traded a look. "That's not important now, Midori," the male ninja said seriously after a moment. "What's more important is -" "Rescuing me?" Midori laughed. "What makes you think I need or want rescuing?" She raised her hand, and Ren paled at the sight of the three black, interlocking rings on its back. "Here, I'm finally appreciated for my strength, with teachers who want me to be stronger still, not to cripple me because of their own cowardice." The rings glowed a dark purple for just an instant, and Midori spat. "I don't care if you take Saburo, but leave now. Without me."

"Midori," Ren began.

"This is your last chance, Ren. I'm going to have to warn Kabuto-sama that Mitarashi-sensei's sister is here. If you're not gone, I imagine both of you will die, and don't expect me to help you."

Fury rose up in Ren. "Is that all our friendship is worth to you?" she demanded. "Do you have an idea how Saburo and I have -"

"Ren," Saburo said coldly, and she cut off. "Midori-chan isn't herself. She won't listen."

Midori laughed again. "No." She smiled. "I finally am myself." She shook her head. "Friendship?" she asked. "Is that what you call it? I'm supposed to be grateful that you deign to tolerate me? I know how you both really feel; there's no point in hiding it any more."

"Midori," Ren said sickly. Almost unwillingly, her hand sneaked toward a kunai. "Please."

"No." Midori didn't bother with subtlety, drawing a kunai of her own. "I'm going. If you try to stop me, I'll kill you."

Saburo swallowed. "You'll try," he said, and then he charged.

Midori snapped into a kick, forcing the boy to dart backward. Ren came in from the side, kunai in hand. Midori casually blocked it with her own weapon, her eyes seeking out Ren's.

Ren averted her gaze, but the distraction allowed the other girl to land a solid punch to her gut. Midori hurled her kunai at Saburo. The boy flung himself out of the way, but Midori was at the door before he recovered, yanking it open.

"Damn it!" Saburo shouted, charging after the green-eyed girl. Ren followed, readying another kunai, but all three ninja stopped as they nearly ran into a boy in a dark kimono.

"What have we here?" the strange boy asked, and his black eyes flared into a sudden crimson.

Midori took a step back. "Sasuke-sama," she breathed.

Too fast for Ren to follow, Saburo hurled a canister of water between the pair, forming seals and shouting "Suiton: Water Explosion Technique!" Even as the sudden burst of water flung the two aside, he charged the boy, snapping at Ren, "Grab Midori and run!"

Ren reacted instantly, finding her female teammate's fallen form and and grabbing he, placing a kunai at her neck and holding her face turned away from her own. "I'm sorry, Midori," she said.

Then her eyes widened as the girl she held dissolved into water. Directly in front of her, the real Midori faded into view, her hastily created cloaking technique discarded. Her green eyes locked with Ren's blue ones, and she smiled. "I'm not," she said. "Haruno Ninpou: Gaze of Binding."

Nearby, Saburo neared the other boy, hands blurring. Another Saburo formed out of the puddle of water, charging ahead. Sasuke casually sidestepped the clone's blow, delivering a powerful elbow to the water replication's stomach in response. Still, the Sound ninja seemed unprepared for the violent burst of water that resulted, flinging him back against the wall. In an instant, the real Saburo was upon him, a kunai going for his throat.

The crimson-eyed boy somehow caught the blade harmlessly with his bare hand. Saburo wrenched the weapon free, then feinted a second attack with it before sweeping his opponent's legs out from under him with a sudden kick. "Ha!" he shouted, preparing to follow up with a killing strike.

The other boy vanished in a puff of smoke. "You realize," the real Sasuke said from behind him, lifting the Mist ninja up by the back of his collar, "that the only reason you aren't dead already is so I can copy as many of your techniques as possible."

Midori smiled, her eyes never leaving Ren's - and therefore keeping the other kunoichi bound by her technique. "As expected from Sasuke-sama," she said, but Ren could see and hear more than a little falseness in her smile and voice. "Don't kill him, please," Midori added after moment. "I think Kabuto-sama would like the pleasure of teaching him not to betray our hospitality."

The male Sound ninja just snorted, but he moved to knock Saburo out with a punch to the back of the head. His eyes widened in surprise as a small wall of water blocked his strike. Saburo slipped out of his grip, whirling around to face him. "I'm not out of tricks," the Mist ninja snarled.

"Interesting." Sasuke took a step back, clearly studying his opponent with new eyes.

In an instant, Saburo was past him, tackling Midori. As soon as Midori's eyes left Ren, she was freed, and she drew a kunai, hurling it at the charging Sasuke to slow him. Beside her, Midori shoved Saburo off of her jumping to her feet.

Saburo landed smoothly in the center of the puddle of water his attacks had made, and his hands blurred, multiple watery images of himself rising around him. "Run, Ren!" he shouted. "I'll hold them off as long as I can!"

"But -"

"I let you do it last time," he snapped. "Go!" Not wasting time on further argument, Ren turned and ran back to Saburo's room and the escape route Anko had prepared, hating herself as she fled.

* * *

As soon as she separated from Saburo, Anko paused to activate a simple cloaking genjutsu. From the Mist boy's information, there were very few Sound ninja in the underground complex and the security around Naruto was amazingly lax. That was no reason to get cocky, though, and just wander the corridors openly. It might have surprised many who only knew her from her antics in the village, but Anko was anything but incautious when it came to a serious mission. That was one lesson Orochimaru had taught her that she still appreciated. 

Her caution proved worthwhile mere moments later, as her path crossed that of the six-armed Sound ninja Kidoumaru - one of the two prisoners she had spent much of the past few months experimenting on with Shizune. It took all of Anko's will not to curse in surprise, and she shook her head as she pressed herself to the ceiling and waited for the young boy to pass underneath. He must have broken out during the mess at the ANBU detention center during the Mist's attack. Had the girl escaped too?

With luck, the answer to that question would prove irrelevant, Anko thought as she silently landed, Kidoumaru safely out of sight. With luck, this would be a simple in-and-out mission. Grab the Kyuubi brat, rendezvous with her sister's genin, then get the hell out of here with none of the Sound the wiser. A cold part of her noted that, with somewhat less luck, she'd at least be able to use whatever mess Saburo and Ren got into as a distraction to make good her own escape with Naruto.

Another part of her hated that part, but she was far too practical to ignore it. She'd come here hoping to stop her sister from being tainted the way she was, but from Saburo's story she was already too late. There was a chance that Kimi might still be saved - at least as saved as Anko herself was - but that chance was so slim that she couldn't let herself put it above rescuing Naruto. There was no telling what terrible plan Orochimaru had for using the Kyuubi's power, but Anko didn't need to know what that plan was to know that stopping it was important.

Soon, she had arrived at where Saburo had said he had seen Naruto taken. Just as the Mist genin had told Anko, a single uniformed Sound guard stood outside a heavy wooden door, not seeming terribly alert. Anko pondered more than a dozen ways of killing the man before deciding that simple was best. Suddenly appearing behind him, Anko slit the guard's throat with a kunai.

The enemy ninja was a little more alert than Anko gave him credit for, and he managed to dodge just enough that the attack wasn't instantly fatal. Using another simple genjutsu to keep the man from screaming, Anko finished the job with a more violent blow that severed the guard's head entirely. "That was sloppy," Anko muttered to herself as the head landed quietly. She kicked at the headless corpse, then tested the door. Unsurprisingly, it was locked, but a quick search of her victim uncovered a key.

After less than a second's study, Anko tossed the obvious trap aside and performed a more thorough search of the body. After a quick, messy dissection, the Leaf kunoichi was forced to conclude that the guard hadn't been given any real key. Either a custom technique was used to open the door or he hadn't been trusted enough to have access to the prisoner.

Wiping the blood from her hands onto her long coat, Anko studied the door. It was safe to assume that common unlocking techniques wouldn't work, and most likely any attempted use of those techniques or more forceful methods of entry would trigger alarms and traps. "Troublesome," she muttered, then decided that she'd clearly spent too much time with that Nara kid preparing for the exams.

There were way around traps, but alarms were a more difficult problem. Anko weighed her options, then pulled out a handful of paper tags, placing them carefully around the door. Muttering a few memorized syllables under her breath, she formed seals, then activated each tag in turn. With luck, they would detect and counter any sort of chakra signal coming from the door.

A minute's further study determined that there were no obvious mundane alarms and the nature of the trap that awaited anyone foolish enough to use the key the guard had carried. "Nasty," Anko muttered, but much to her delight it seemed that using the key would actually unlock the door. She bent over to pick up the key and smiled at the guard's severed head. "You won't mind if I borrow your body for a few moments, would you?" she asked cheerfully.

A moment later, she knelt over the corpse, pushing the key into its hand. Then Anko took a deep breath and formed a long sequence of seals. "Dead Soul Technique," she murmured, and haltingly the headless body stood. It stumbled over to the door, clumsily inserted the key, and turned it. The spray of acid dissolved both the key and the corpse's arm, and the array of seal tags flared momentarily, but no audible alarms sounded.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Anko let the corpse collapse and stood. Careful to avoid the acid, she gently pushed the door open with her foot and stepped into a narrow corridor lined with cells. An instant's inspection showed that only one was inhabited, and the prisoner - securely chained to the wall - looked up at her. "What do you want?" Uzumaki Naruto asked sourly.

Anko pouted at him. "What? No 'Mitarashi-sensei! Thank the gods!' Talk about ungrateful."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, then widened as they fell on Anko's Leaf forehead protector. "You're the second examiner!" he said excitedly.

"What, did you think I was my sister?" Anko asked. "I'm offended!" Her face turned briefly serious as she study the wards and seals inside Naruto's cell. "Nothing too bad," she muttered, then continued in a clearer voice. "Give me just a moment and I'll get you out of there."

"It'll be a bit longer than that, little sister." Stepping gingerly over the fallen guard, Mitarashi Kimi entered the short corridor.

Anko spun to face her. "Sister," she said flatly. Just as Saburo had said, Kimi no longer wore the Mist's forehead protector, but neither did she wear the Sound's. Anko's shoulder throbbed, and reflexively Anko's hand went to the cursed seal.

Kimi grinned, and black, flame-like markings began to crawl over her skin. "Are you ready?" the older woman asked simply, her hands going to the hilts of her two short, curved swords.

Anko looked away. "Do you have any idea what you've let Orochimaru do to you?"

"Yes," Kimi said. "He granted me the same power he granted you, so that we could fight on equal ground." The markings on her skin twisted and squirmed, inching to cover more of her body.

"And you think he just… gave away that sort of power for free?" Anko asked.

"Of course not," Kimi said. "The Sound are short on jounin-level ninja." She shrugged. "In return for this power, I agreed to serve Orochimaru."

"No," Anko said. "You sold your soul to him."

Kimi smiled. "If I did, so did you." Finally, the cursed seal's markings stopped moving, settling into a dark pattern that covered slightly more than half of Kimi's body.

Anko averted her gaze once more. "No," she said. "I didn't sell Orochimaru my soul."

"Oh?" Kimi raised an eyebrow curiously.

"I gave it to him freely," Anko said, "and I've been fighting ever since to get it back." She shuddered. "You have no idea what you've done. To yourself and to your student."

"Midori?" Kimi frowned, and just for a moment Anko thought she saw the seal's pattern retreating slightly. "She made her own choice."

"You let her make the worst mistake of her life," Anko said. "You failed her."

"Enough talk," Kimi snarled, drawing both of her swords in one smooth motion.

Anko glanced back at Naruto, forcing a smile. The boy was staring at her, and she had to guess that he was more than a little shocked at what her conversation with Kimi had to have told him. "Don't worry," she said. "This'll be over in just a minute."

"True," Kimi agreed, slamming into her sister and plunging one of her swords into Anko's gut.

Anko erupted into a pillar of smoke, and kunai in hand the real Anko flew at Kimi. The former Mist jounin easily parried the blow, spinning into a kick that sent her sister crashing into one of the bars of one of the empty cells. "You're too -"

Anko's hand flicked, and a handful of shuriken flew at Kimi. The older woman casually swatted them aside with a sword, but by then Anko had recovered. The Leaf jounin's hands blurred. "Katon: Fireball Technique!"

Kimi vanished as the flames rushed at her, reappearing on the ceiling above her sister. Anko rolled away, but not fast enough to avoid Kimi's hurled sword entirely. The younger sister clutched at her slightly wounded shoulder, and Kimi smiled. "- slow," she finished, dropping to the ground and tossing her second sword at Anko.

Anko sidestepped the projectile and reached for a kunai. "Look out!" Naruto shouted, and Anko rolled aside again just in time to avoid being decapitated by the sword's return path.

Kimi caught the spinning blade by the hilt. "Almost had you," she said playfully.

Anko formed a seal with one hand, rising into sudden pounce. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" she shouted, flames extending from between the fingers of her other hand.

Kimi grinned, tossing her blade aside and growing fiery talons of her own to match, parrying Anko's. "You won't win that way," she said, and the seal her other hand formed shifted slightly. Kimi's flames grew brighter, pushing through Anko's technique.

Anko grinned, then vanished, her flames disappearing instantly. Kimi stumbled forward, and when Anko reappeared behind her, she wasn't able to react fast enough. Anko's hands blurred, and then she laid one on Kimi's shoulder. "Sorry," she said.

Kimi stumbled forward again, but she only laughed. "Kabuto thought you would try that," she said, thick, ominous chakra swirling around her. She spun to face Anko, and now her eyes had been replaced by inhuman yellow orbs. "And he said to tell you that they aren't that stupid. I'm immune to that trick, just like you."

Anko cursed, jumping away from Kimi, but a quick Claw of the Fire Dragon caught her in mid-air. Kimi was upon the Leaf ninja before she could recover, and the rest of the fight was nothing but a blur of pain for Anko. The next time she could think coherently, she was on the ground, barely able to move.

Kimi stood ominously over her, but her eyes had returned to normal and the cursed seal's marks slowly retreated. "I would kill you," she said, "but you haven't suffered enough yet, Anko-chan." She smiled. "Kabuto's promised to help me break you once he's done investingating the long-term effects of your seal. Maybe we'll have you kill that Sakura girl. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Sakura-chan?!" At the boy's panicked exclamation, Kimi started and turned at Naruto, as though she had forgotten he was there.

"You know her?" Kimi asked. "Oh, yes. You were teammates, weren't you?" Anko struggled to rise, but her body failed her.

"Out of my way," a new voice said roughly. "Kabuto wants this one in a cell."

Anko managed to raise her head, and through her blurring vision managed to make out a familiar boy, another boy slung unmoving over his shoulder. "Uchiha… Sasuke," Anko managed to get out.

The boy glanced at her for just a moment, but showed no reaction. "Well?" he said to Kimi.

"Sasuke!" Anko could hear Naruto struggling against his chains, but the other boy didn't respond.

"Saburo," Kimi said softly. "What happened?"

Sasuke shrugged. "He and some other girl from the Mist were fighting Midori," he said simply. "Now, get out of my way."

"Sasuke, you bastard! Stop ignoring me!" Everyone ignored Naruto's angry cry.

Kimi stepped aside, and Sasuke pushed past her, but her eyes went to Anko. "Ren?" she asked. Sasuke grunted, and Kimi shook her head. She roughly picked Anko up. "It seems there are some questions I have for you," she commented, and then Anko finally lost consciousness.

* * *

**Day Ninety-eight**

"This is as far as I'm allowed to go," Fuuma Sasame told the five Leaf chuunin.

Sakura glanced around the small crossroads. Along the main road they'd been following, in the distance a tiny village was visible. Sakura swallowed as she noticed that it was in fact the ruins of a tiny village she was looking at, and she quickly turned her attention to the narrow path that lead into the dark, wooded hills to the east. That was where they would be going.

Shikamaru nodded at the young Fuuma kunoichi who had escorted them here, saying, "This is where your scouts saw the Sound party?" he asked.

Sasame returned the nod. "Yes." She paused, then added. "I wish we… I wish I could do something to help you." The Fuuma Clan's aid had been less extensive than the Leaf had hoped - the bulk of the clan's strength apparently being in the north of the country helping an allied clan defend itself from clans loyal to the Hidden Sound. The Fuuma had given the five Leaf chuunin fresh supplies and weapons, but had not offered any ninja to join their mission.

"You've helped by showing us where to start our search," Shikamaru said.

Sasame glanced at Sakura before responding. "Naruto helped me much more," she said sadly. "I wish you all luck."

"Thank you," Rock Lee responded, and with a deep bow the Fuuma kunoichi vanished.

"Not that that's done," Shikamaru said, "let's get started. Neji?"

"Yes." The Hyuuga formed a seal, activating his Byakugan. "Nobody in the woods," he reported an instant later. "I don't see any sign that anyone's been through recently, but I'm no woodsman."

"I don't think the Fuuma have any reason to mislead us," Ino said cautiously.

"They are Rice Field ninja," Shikamaru said.

Sakura shook her head violently. "They have almost as much reason to hate Orochimaru as we do," she said. "I've seen what he's done to them and to this country."

Neji nodded, and when Lee gave him a questioning look the Hyuuga simply pointed at the nearby ruined village. Lee paled slightly, letting out a quiet, "Oh."

Shikamaru's gaze also followed Neji's finger. "How recent?" he asked.

Neji hesitated. "A few months, maybe," he answered.

"That would make sense if the Sound relocated their hidden compound here after Jiraiya-sama destroyed the old one," Shikamaru said with a glance at Sakura. "And if the Fuuma were trying to betray us, it would make more sense to lead us into an ambush instead of just dropping us off in the middle of nowhere."

"So what now?" Neji asked, relaxing his eyes. "Do we wait for Shizune-sama?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "Let's try and find the Sound compound." He paused, then said, "Sakura."

"Yes?"

"The scroll Kakashi-sensei gave you," Shikamaru said. "I think it's time to use it."

Sakura nodded. "Right." She pulled out and unrolled the scroll, glancing briefly at the unfamiliar characters. "I don't know how much of my chakra this will take," she said, "so I might be out of it for a little while."

"That's fine," Shikamaru said.

Sakura bit at her thumb, pressing down until she drew blood, then smeared her blood over the unrolled scroll. Ignoring the minor, familiar pain, she quickly formed seals. "Summoning Technique!" She wavered as a brief weariness passed through her, but it was gone by the time the small cloud of white smoke had vanished, revealing Pakkun.

"Sakura," the small dog said, nodding his head in greeting. He sniffed, gave the girl a puzzled glance, then said, "You changed your shampoo."

Sakura forced a smile. "I guess so."

Pakkun glanced about, then returned his gaze to Sakura. "What do you need?"

"Naruto… and maybe Sasuke-kun should have been here not long ago," she answered. "We need to follow their trail."

"I understand," the dog said, and he began to sniff around the area.

Ino walked up to Sakura's side. "'You changed your shampoo?'" she asked, amusement in her voice.

"I don't want to talk about it," Sakura said shortly.

Ino smiled. "Oh, this must be good," she said. "Maybe I'll ask the dog about it."

Fortunately for Sakura, Pakkun spoke suddenly. "They were here all right," he said. "Naruto, Sasuke, and five other scents I don't recognize." He sniffed at the air again. "Some of them smell a little familiar, but I can't place them."

"Can you follow them?" Shikamaru asked.

"Of course," the dog answered, sounding a little offended.

"Then let's go," Shikamaru said, and without further discussion the team followed Pakkun into the trees, but not along the small dirt path. Instead the dog lead them straight into the thickest-seeming part of the woods. It wasn't surprising, Sakura decided. If she'd been responsible for deciding where to put a hidden base, it wouldn't be along such an obvious path.

It was almost an hour later when Pakkun stopped suddenly, landing atop a thick tree branch and waiting for the ninja to catch up with him. Sakura was grateful for the rest, as she was much more tired than she ordinarily would have been; most likely, she thought, keeping Pakkun summoned was draining her chakra.

"Did you lose the trail?" Shikamaru asked the dog worriedly.

"Of course not," Pakkun replied with a snort. "I just thought you might want to know that there's a girl ahead."

"A girl?" Shikamaru asked.

"Not one of the scents we've been following," Pakkun said. "I don't recognize her at all."

"Neji?" Shikamaru asked.

"Right." The Hyuuga prodigy formed a seal. "Byakugan!" Then he frowned.

"What is it?" Lee asked.

"It's Shimano."

"Shimano?" Lee asked, sounding confused.

Sakura blinked. "Shimano Ren? Didn't we capture her?"

Shikamaru nodded. "You're sure it's her?"

"Certain," Neji said, breaking the seal and deactivating his Bloodline Limit. "We're also close enough that I saw the Sound compound. Or what's probably it."

Pakkun nodded. "I should be going then," he said, and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"This is the Mist girl I fought in the exam, right?" Ino asked. When Sakura nodded, the blonde frowned. "What's she doing here?"

"I don't know," Shikamaru said irritably. "She's supposed to be being interrogated by ANBU."

"So what are we going to do?" Ino asked.

"There's nobody else around?" Shikamaru asked Neji.

The Hyuuga shook his head. "Not above ground, at least," he answered. He hesitated, then said, "Shimano is hiding. I'd say from the Sound."

"The Sound are working with the Mist, aren't they?" Lee asked.

"This is troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, but then he spoke in a clearer voice. "There's an easy way to find out what she's doing here," he said. "She's not going to be any danger to the five of us if we aren't stupid."

Less than a minute later, the five Leaf ninja had quietly encircled the apparently oblivious Ren, who sat with her back to a large tree stump. After observing her for several moments to ensure that there was no trap, at Shikamaru's signal Sakura leapt down from the trees to land in front of the Mist kunoichi.

Ren's eyes widened slightly, but she made no move to stand. "Sakura-san," Ren said softly.

"Ren-san," Sakura said.

"If I think about it," Ren said, "I'm not surprised that you're here."

"I can't say the same," Sakura replied.

"Then I suppose you weren't chasing Anko-san and me," Ren replied tiredly. "You must be after the boy Saburo told us about."

"Mitarashi-sensei is here?" Sakura asked. Ren nodded. "She broke me out of ANBU's jail," she said. "Told me some story about my team and… my Mitarashi-sensei being in danger because of Orochimaru. Wanted me to help her rescue them."

"And?" Sakura prompted.

"Anko-san was right," Ren said. "We went in there and found Saburo, and he told us Orochimaru gave Midori and Mitarashi-sensei some sort of cursed seal. Anko-san went to rescue some Leaf prisoner Saburo knew about, and we went to try and get Midori out of there. She fought us and Saburo stayed behind so I could escape. I don't know what happened to Anko-san."

It didn't seem to Sakura that the other girl was lying. It seemed that Neji's Byakugan-aided observation agreed with her, because an instant later the other four Leaf ninja joined Sakura on the ground. Ren didn't seem terribly surprised. "So am I your prisoner?" Ren asked.

"Perhaps," Shikamaru said, "but it sounds like we have a common enemy here."

Ren nodded slowly and stood. "I believe we do."

* * *

Yakushi Kabuto did not require much of the young Sound ninja currently under his command, in his opinion. He demanded absolute obedience, of course, but he didn't think that terribly unusual. He insisted that both the absent Orochimaru and himself be treated with respect, which was more difficult for certain ninja than for others. He absolutely prohibited serious infighting, though he was more than willing to look the other way when a sparring session turned a tad more violent than would have been acceptable in the Leaf Village. 

The one thing, however, that he knew caused the most griping behind his back was his standing order that the five ninja eat the evening meal together with him. He told them that it was to encourage them to develop a group identity as a team and to take the place of any more formal group meeting. Those explanations were true, to a certain extent, but the main reason Kabuto required the group dinner was because it was amusing.

Uchiha Sasuke, as always, said nothing and ate silently - almost as perfectly silent as Jabisen, who couldn't talk at all because of the uncontrollable nature of his Bloodline Limit. By Orochimaru's command he was nominally the leader of the five. It wasn't a choice Kabuto would have made, but it was not his place to dispute his master's will. The Uchiha gave - quite accurately, in Kabuto's opinion - every impression of wanting nothing to do with his companions.

As they had been ordered, the two kunoichi among the team were having none of that. "Do you want some more rice?" Tayuya asked Sasuke, but he just grunted in response. Kabuto had to resist the urge to laugh at the visible effort Tayuya put into not exploding at the boy.

The scene got only more amusing as Midori reluctantly inserted herself into it, interpreting the Uchiha's grunt as a "yes" and moving to serve the theoretical target of her affections. Sasuke stopped her with a glare, and after a moment Midori muttered a quiet, "Sorry." Tayuya snorted, and Midori gave her a glare to match the one she had just received. "What's so funny?" she snarled.

"You," Tayuya said simply, and now it was Midori who was forced to visibly restrain herself. Kabuto didn't show it, but it took him quite a lot of effort not to burst into laughter. For all that neither girl - to the best of his knowledge - liked Sasuke at all, they certainly had developed what seemed a very real rivalry over him.

Kidoumaru coughed once, diverting the girls' attention from the brewing argument. "Um," he said, clearly not having planned ahead enough to know what change of topic he was going to introduce. After an instant too long, he turned to Kabuto. "What about that Leaf bitch that was caught yesterday?" he asked. "I - and I imagine Tayuya - would like words with her."

"Damn straight," Tayuya growled. "I'll show her my interrogation techniques."

Mitarashi Kimi - who for some reason of her own chose to dine with Kabuto and the younger ninja - frowned. "My sister? Why?"

"She decided that we were good for 'medical research,'" Tayuya responded. "She owes us."

"Medical research?" Kimi frowned. "She never struck me as the medical ninja type."

Tayuya's hand went to the back of her neck and Kidoumaru covered his own cursed seal. Kabuto smiled. "Your sister most likely has a very specific, narrow interest in the field," he said.

Kimi's eyes widened. "Oh," she said, her frown deepening briefly before vanishing from her face.

"That reminds me, though," Kabuto said. "It seems this other student of yours isn't dumb enough to try coming in here alone, Kimi-san. I had Jabisen do a quick search for her this morning, but he didn't find anything." The silent boy made a quick apology in the Sound's sign language, or at least as much of one as the limited vocabulary available allowed.

"I'll look for her," Midori offered quietly. "I know her." Kabuto glanced at her, wondering whether she wanted to find Ren because of some grudge or to ensure her former teammate escaped capture.

"No." It was Kimi who spoke. "I'll take care of it."

Kabuto turned to the woman, wondering much the same thing he had about Midori. The jounin was - as expected - hard to read, and dealing with her was difficult. She had agreed to serve Orochimaru, but she hadn't formally sworn to the Hidden Sound, nor had the renegade Sannin bothered to explicitly place her under Kabuto's command. Regardless of the truth of her situation, she still saw Orochimaru as her ally, not her master. After a moment, he let out a non-committal grunt.

"I'd be a fool to plan a betrayal at this stage," Kimi said.

Kabuto smiled, remembering that the at-the-time Mist jounin had said the same thing at their first meeting. "Very well," he said. Kimi was right; it was hard to see what damage she could do with this. Besides, it would be a worthwhile test.

Kimi nodded. "Thank you," she said, and her gratitude seemed genuine.

* * *

**Day Ninety-nine**

Ren was much easier to find than Mitarashi Kimi had expected. The Mist genin stood in the center of an empty clearing, and Kimi spent several minutes circling the clearing looking for the trap every instinct told her to expect. Part of her wanted to laugh at the caution. Ren was not only a genin, but a genin who had learned everything she knew from Kimi herself. What possible danger could she be?

Still, Kimi wasn't the type to ignore such a hunch entirely, and so she searched in vain for a hidden trap. Finding none, she finally entered the clearing, not bothering to hide her approach. "Sloppy, Ren," she said. "One would almost think you wanted to be found."

"I did, Mitarashi-sensei," Ren said in the soft yet strong voice that meant she was facing a potential enemy.

"Foolish." Kimi smirked. "If I had been one of my… allies, you would probably be dead."

"That's why you made sure it was you who came, wasn't it Mitarashi-sensei?" Ren said.

"I don't want to kill you, Ren," Kimi said. "You've always been my true student, the heir to my techniques."

Ren's face was smooth. "I know." She smiled for just a second. "I don't want you to kill me either, Mitarashi-sensei."

"Good." Kimi took a step closer, careful not to make it appear threatening. "Come with me. The others won't harm you if I vouch for you."

"And Saburo?" Ren asked.

"We'll help him as best we can," Kimi said. "With your help, I'm sure Midori and I can convince him to see reason."

"To join the Sound?"

"I suppose," Kimi replied with a shrug. "I doubt they care whether they have his formal allegiance, just that he not fight against them again."

Ren was silent for a long moment. "Why, Mitarashi-sensei?"

Kimi blinked. "It isn't obvious? They can't afford to shelter an enemy in -"

"Not that!" Ren snapped, abandoning her quiet tone. "Why did you betray the Mist?" Kimi didn't answer. "Why, Mitarashi-sensei?"

"You wouldn't understand," Kimi said, her voice distant. "You've never lost anything, Ren. Not like I've lost. My family, my entire clan were slaughtered by the Sand and the Leaf. My sister betrayed us all by joining them." She paused. "The Mist were always just a tool to further my vengeance. Orochimaru's Sound provides a better tool."

"Am I just a tool?" Ren asked, quiet again.

"Of course not." Kimi frowned. "Listen to me, Ren, I -"

"And what about whoever you killed to earn this?" The genin gestured at her forehead protector. "Were they just a tool?"

There was silence for almost half a minute. Then, from somewhere, Kimi pulled out her forehead protector. She stared at it, as though it was unfamiliar to her. "You know," she said, "I've quite forgotten his name," she said sadly. "It's not something you'd think I would forget, but the human mind does odd things to protect itself."

"Who was he?" Ren asked.

"A retainer of the Mitarashi Clan," Kimi said distantly. "The only survivor I was able to find, the one who suggested we flee to the Water Country and join the Mist together." She shook her head. "I haven't thought of him in ages." Kimi gave the forehead protector a last look, then slowly tossed it aside. "He let me kill him," she added.

"For your vengeance?" Ren asked.

Kimi nodded. "Yes." She smiled sadly. "He would want this, I think."

"You said," Ren stated, "that I had never lost anything." She shook her head. "You're wrong."

"Oh?" Kimi asked.

"From the little I've seen of Midori," Ren said, "I've lost a friend." She paused, her hand hovering over where Kimi knew she kept kunai. "Now it seems I've lost a teacher as well."

Kimi sighed. "I really didn't want to do this," she said, and then she was behind Ren. There was a flash of steel as one of the jounin's swords appeared at her student's throat throat. "Surrender before I have to hurt you." Ren's response was to erupt into a thick pillar of black smoke. "Shadow Smoke Evasion?" Kimi asked. "You don't expect that to work on me, do you?"

She tossed her weapon, and Ren grunted as it hit her in the stomach, then vanished in another eruption of black smoke. "Tiresome," Kimi said as Ren charged out from behind a tree.

"Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" Ren shouted, fiery tendrils springing from her hand as she neared her teacher. "Futile," Kimi said, catching her returning weapon and hurling it at Ren in one smooth motion.

The blade passed through the genin, and Kimi started. "Genjutsu?" she asked, turning to another Ren charging at her with a Claw of the Fire Dragon. Once more her sword returned to her and once more she threw it at her student. Again, it passed through Ren, but this time there was a brief wavering and Ren was slightly to the left of where he had been before.

Kimi's eyes widened. "You're -"

Dropping the Transformation Technique, Haruno Sakura slammed into the jounin, fiery talons clawing at her foe. In an instant, Kimi was replaced by a large log, and the jounin reappeared in the air above Sakura. "When -"

The real Ren flew at her teacher, summoning her own claws of fire. Kimi twisted in mid-air, blocking her student's attack with the same technique, then pushing herself away. She landed atop a nearby tree. "What is this?" she asked, staring at the two younger kunoichi.

"The end," Yamanaka Ino declared, standing atop an adjacent tree and holding a seal. "Paralysis -"

Kimi hurled herself away, rolling as she hit the ground. A blur and disturbed dust was all that could be seen of Rock Lee as he charged her. Still, Kimi was not a jounin for nothing. She was standing before the taijutsu expert had closed half the distance, her foot sketching a line in the dirt before her. "Katon: Fire Dragon Barrier!"

Impossibly, Lee stopped instantly as fiery dragons erupted from the earth, forming a blazing wall to block his path. Not slowing in the slightest, he dashed to one side, going around the wall and appearing behind the jounin. Kimi barely had time to half-spin and raise her arms to block before the boy was upon her. "Leaf Whirlwind!"

The blow sent Kimi skidding back, and as she recovered she realized that Hyuuga Neji was standing directly behind her. She froze for just a moment. "Eight Divination Signs," Neji intoned softly. "Sixty-four Palms of the Hand. Two strikes!" Both blows hit Kimi squarely. "Four strikes!"

There was an eruption of dark smoke and Neji's blows struck nothing but air. When Kimi reappeared, she was behind the boy. "Die!" she screamed, flames springing from her hands.

"Heavenly Spin!" Neji's chakra shattered the claws of flame, sending Kimi flying away.

Sakura was waiting for her, hands already forming seals. "Katon: Fireball Technique!"

Kimi twisted in midair to dodge the flames, then rolled away as she hit the ground to avoid the hail of shuriken thrown by Ren. A second fireball from Ino almost caught her, but the jounin backflipped out of the way. "You won't win that way," she paused to say, then she darted out of the way of a tendril of thick shadow on the ground. "Nor that way," she added as she landed in the center of the clearing, for away from the shadows cast by the trees. "I recognize that technique."

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered as he emerged from forest. His shadow suddenly split into three, darting at Kimi from multiple directions.

The jounin danced between the lines of shadow. "I remember this game from one of the fights in the exams," she had time to comment. "I suppose this is the real thing, though."

"Yeah," Shikamaru said slowly, a fourth tendril of shadow springing into existence and racing at the woman.

"I'm not going to get caught," she said, and then Kimi was behind Shikamaru, her foot catching the boy in the head. He flew forward, landing with a heavy thump near the center of the clearing. "Who's next?" she said. Then she froze, her eyes widening. "What?"

Shikamaru emerged from the trees, Kimi helplessly aping his movements. "It's over," he said. The Shikamaru on the ground turned into Ino with a puff of smoke.

The blonde sat up painfully. "That hurt," she muttered.

Kimi glanced at the other Ino, who with another puff of smoke was revealed to be Sakura. The other Sakura simply vanished. "Well, damn it," the jounin said.

"Good work, everyone," Shikamaru told the others. He glanced at Ren. "Sorry about this, but she can't be trusted." Ren nodded slowly, and Shikamaru raced through a sequence of seals. "Shadow Neck Bind Technique!"

Even as the shadow that ensnared her hungrily grasped for her neck, Kimi snorted. "Idiocy," she said. Black markings crawled over her skin, and in a sudden explosion of power she was free.

She was behind Ren in an instant. "For betraying me," she snarled, the cursed seal's marks writhing over her skin, "you will die first."

In a blur of motion, Lee grabbed the Mist genin and leapt away with her. Kimi made to follow, but Neji interposed himself, striking the woman in the chest with a single Gentle Fist strike.

"Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" Kimi snapped, and the flames flung Neji away. Hardly pausing, she advanced on Lee and Ren. Twin fireballs from Sakura and Ino flew at her, but Kimi somehow swatted them aside with her bare hands. She glared at the pair. "Your turn will come," she said.

In her moment of distraction, Lee charged her, knocking her into the air with one mighty kick. He vanished, reappearing behind the woman, the bandages around his arms already unwrapped and reaching to entangle her. They caught only dark smoke.

Kimi appeared in front of Ren, who didn't move. The jounin grabbed her student by the throat, lifting her up. For a moment, it looked like Kimi was about to crush the girl's throat, but then the dark aura of power around her faded slightly. Still, when she spoke it was in a snarl, and she said simply, "Last words?"

Ren's hands grasped feebly at Kimi's. "Yes," she choked out. Her hand shifted suddenly, and one formed a seal. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!"

The flames were weak, but they caught the jounin directly in the face. Screaming incoherently, the jounin dropped Ren and stumbled backward. She clawed at the burnt mess of her face, for the moment oblivious to anything else.

Neji was ready behind her. "Eight Divination Signs," he stated once again. "Sixty-four Palms of the Hand." Again and again he struck her, closing tenketsu with each strike. When he was done, the jounin collapsed.

Then Mitarashi Kimi screamed, and it made her howls of pain from Ren's final attack seem like nothing. The cursed seal's markings twisted rapidly, growing to cover more and more of her skin. Her screams continued as every bit of her skin became covered by darkness. Somehow, she managed to rise to her knees. "I can't stop it!" she managed to get out, and then she fell for a final time.

The darkness of her skin faded to a pale gray, and the power that had hung around her vanished. Ren fell to her knees. "Mitarashi-sensei," she breathed, staring at the jounin's still form.

Sakura swallowed. "Ren-san."

"That…" Neji trailed off, staring at the corpse in what seemed like horror. "That should not have happened. It didn't with the other one."

"The ones we fought before," Shikamaru said slowly, "had those seals for years, probably." He glanced at the corpse. "She had it for weeks at most. I don't imagine she was very good at controlling it, jounin or not."

"Did you know this would happen?" Ino asked softly.

Shikamaru shook his head. Before he could say anything, a sudden gut of wind kicked up a storm of dust and fallen leaves. When it died down, Shizune stood over Kimi's body. She gave it a long look, then glanced at Ren before turning to Shikamaru. "It seems," she said simply, "that we have a lot to discuss."

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings 

1) And that's another chapter. My apologies for taking so long. With any luck, the next (and final!) chapter shall not be quite so delayed.

2) This chapter was a little shorter than I was expecting, given that it covers more days than any other. I doubt there will be many complaints about that, though, given that it is still fairly large by any reasonable standard.

3) As always, the only way I have to find out whether this chapter was any good is your comments. So, please, send them my way.

4) I can't promise that there will be anything worth reading there, but I've started an anime/fanfiction blog. Once I get started writing the next chapter, I'll try to post relatively frequent updates on the status there. A link can be found in my profile.

5) Next time in One Hundred Days Chapter 16, The Hundredth Day: The events of the past hundred days come to a head. The fight to save Naruto begins, but that is not the only battle being waged. Far away, the fate of the Leaf Village - and the Fifth Hokage - is about to be decided. By the end of the day, it will all be over… one way or the other.

Draft Started: November 09, 2006  
Draft Finished: December 28, 2006  
Draft Released: December 29, 2006  
Final Released: January 15, 2006


	17. Chapter 16: The Hundredth Day

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 16: The Hundredth Day

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, bunnies!

* * *

**Day One Hundred**

Yakushi Kabuto frowned as he stepped into the narrow hallway of cells. Mitarashi Kimi had not returned from her mission to find her wayward student Ren. There were two equally disturbing possibilities to explain this. First, that he had not only misread Kimi's plans and trustworthiness, but he had also missed some manner by which her betrayal could accomplish something. Kimi did not strike him as a stupid woman, and she would not have betrayed the Sound without some clear purpose in mind.

The second potential explanation was that Ren had somehow defeated her teacher. A more foolish man than Kabuto might have rejected this possibility out of hand, but Kabuto had witnessed enough upsets to know that it was hardly impossible. If Ren was truly that determined and strong, no doubt she would already be preparing another attack.

Kabuto favored the still form of Kimi's sister, chained to the wall in back of one of the cells, with an irritated glance. Her breathing was slow but steady, a sign that he had indeed dosed her correctly. It would be several more hours before she awoke, which would give him enough time to engage in a few preliminary investigations before drugging her again. There was no one in the world who had borne one of Orochimaru's cursed seals longer than Mitarashi Anko, and there was no telling what examination of her body would reveal.

From the next cell over, Aoki Saburo glared at the Sound ninja as he opened the door to Anko's cell and carefully unchained the woman. Kabuto gave the captive Mist ninja a slight smile, and the boy's anger became almost palpable. It was interesting to consider just what Saburo would say when his reserve finally broke.

It was the third prisoner who spoke first though. His voice was tired and bleary, but Uzumaki Naruto's own anger was clear as he said, "What are you doing with her?"

Kabuto almost dropped Anko, but instead he gently set her down and turned around to face the blond boy. Kabuto's face was perfectly smooth as he studied the rapidly more alert seeming Leaf ninja. "It seems," he said, almost to himself, "that Jabisen-kun is not as reliable as I'd thought." With the unfortunate death of the ninja who had been watching the prisoners, Kabuto had given the silent boy the duty of ensuring that Anko and Naruto remained sedated.

"The one who doesn't talk?" Naruto asked, still a little sleepy-sounding.

Kabuto just stared silently at the waking boy. If Jabisen had failed to drug the prisoners last night, Anko should be waking as well. It was possible that he had dosed the special jounin but failed to do the same to Naruto, but Kabuto found that more unlikely than the alternative.

The Kyuubi's presence inside Naruto gave the boy extraordinary healing capabilities. It could even prompt unnaturally rapid regeneration - to an incredible extent if Sasuke's report of the battle at the Valley of the End was trustworthy. He should have guessed that it might also reduce the effectiveness of the sedatives and planned accordingly. It was fortunate that his oversight had been discovered before it could cause any damage.

"What?" Naruto asked, sounding a little nervous.

Outwardly unconcerned, Kabuto unlocked the door to the boy's cell and stepped inside. The Leaf ninja tensed, clearly considering trying something even though he was chained, but before he could Kabuto laid a hand on his shoulder. "Sleep," the Sound ninja commanded, and Naruto's eyes rolled up, his body collapsing against his chains.

Kabuto frowned as he stared at the sleeping boy. Though all his data noted Naruto's weakness against genjutsu, Kabuto knew that the sleeping technique would only hold the genin for minutes at most under these circumstances. The technique worked best when the victim was unaware and already calm. A ninja of almost any level would recover quickly otherwise.

Giving the still-unmoving special jounin a mournful glance, Kabuto relocked the door to Anko's cell, then proceeded to unchain and pick up Naruto. Ignoring Saburo's angry, silent gaze, Kabuto left, ascending through the labyrinthine corridors to his laboratory. He barely had time to secure Naruto to the examination table before the boy began to stir.

Kabuto ignored his prisoner's protests and questions as he drew some blood for testing and confirmed that the levels of sedative in his bloodstream were much lower than should have been the case. He had just finished mixing an extra-strength dose when he was interrupted.

"Sasuke!" Both Sound ninja ignored Naruto's angry shout, and the muttering that followed.

"I'm not to be disturbed when I'm working, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto said mildly.

"We have a situation," the Uchiha stated flatly, not volunteering any other information.

"Explain." Kabuto reached up to adjust his glasses.

"Tayuya and Kidoumaru came back from patrol. They found Shimano Ren."

"And?"

"She's with a party of Leaf ninja, heading straight for us." Sasuke's voice still didn't show any emotion. Naruto's grumblings stopped instantly.

"Anyone we know?" Kabuto asked, a small smile coming to his face.

Sasuke hesitated only a fraction of a second before responding. "The leader is a woman; I didn't recognize her from Kidoumaru's description. The others…" This time he did pause, but after only a second he began to coldly list names. "Hyuuga Neji. Rock Lee. Nara Shikamaru. Yamanaka Ino. Haruno Sakura."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's startled shout turned into a growl, and his eyes flared crimson as he began to struggle against his bonds. Chakra began to flicker in the air around him.

Kabuto reacted quickly, injecting the boy with the dose he had prepared. For a moment it seemed it would have no effect, but then the boy's eyes turned blue and shut. "That should hold him at least until we deal with this," Kabuto commented to himself before turning to Sasuke. "Well, then. Shall we greet our guests, Sasuke-kun?"

The Uchiha just nodded.

* * *

The four masked ANBU - the only full ANBU squad with the war force - bowed shallowly to Tsunade. "Report," the Hokage ordered, masking her nervousness with brevity. There was at least an even chance that she was about to walk into a trap, and that might even be preferable to the alternative, that the Mizukage's offer of peace talks was genuine.

The reason for that was because, inevitably, the shape of a peace reflected the shape of the battlefield, and that was hardly favorable to the Leaf at the moment. The last reports from the east - unfortunately, over a week old - were that the treacherous Rain and the Sound had overrun the Grass Country, tying up both that country's ninja and those of the Sand. There were even more disturbing whispers that the Rock alliance had invaded the Waterfall Country, further weakening the Leaf's allies.

Here on this front, Tsunade's forces had been holding their own, but the Mist easily had twice the manpower she did, and the Mist's allied villages had yet to take the field beyond a few raids by the Hidden Haze in the Tea Country. If the full weight of the Mist alliance descended on the Leaf, Tsunade had little doubt that she would be forced to order a retreat - or worse, a surrender.

With those as the facts on the ground, the Mizukage had little reason to be generous in his terms. Worse, with those facts acknowledged, Tsunade knew she had little choice but to accept anything remotely reasonable, and she the Mizukage would know that also.

The ANBU squad leader, wearing a deer mask, bowed a little deeper than his subordinates before responding to Tsunade's request. "We went over the prepared grounds with a Mist hunter ninja squad, as agreed. There's no sign of a trap, and to all appearances the Mist forces are encamped where they should be."

Tsunade grimaced, then she nodded. "Thank you." If the Mizukage indeed intended an honest offer of peace, there was at least one factor she could leverage to improve her situation - the Rock. In the long run, a weakened Leaf Village would be a much preferable neighbor to the Mist than a conquered one. It would be a distant threat, but ultimately an expansionist Rock that had subdued the Fire and Wind Countries would turn to the east and move on the Mist and Cloud.

If only the Cloud showed some sign of stirring, the Leaf's position would improve immeasurably. If the Cloud threatened war, the Mist would be forced to make peace quickly so they could defend their islands against their most hated enemies. Otherwise, the Leaf could form an alliance of convenience with the Cloud and possibly destroy the Mist forever. Yet, there had been no news from Lightning Country, and as that silence continued the chance of intervention dwindled.

"Dismissed," Tsunade finally told the ANBU, and they obeyed, though they did give a curious glance to the four ninja she had selected as her honor guard.

"We're going in, then?" Yuuhi Kurenai asked softly.

Tsunade nodded at the jounin. "I have to hear him out, at least," she said. She glanced at younger woman's students in turn, her gaze finally resting on Hyuuga Hinata. "You know what to do," she said simply.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the girl almost squeaked, and Tsunade favored her with a gentle smile. To avoid offering open offense to the Mist, the Hyuuga's silver eyes were covered by bandages, making her appear to be a member of the Leaf's Tobitake Clan, which - though famed for its blind-fighting techniques - had no Bloodline Limit.

Tsunade nodded. Besides herself, these were the only four who knew of the discovery of four faceless, unidentifiable bodies in the forest outside the Leaf's encampment. Thanks to cautious use of Hinata's Byakugan, Tsunade was reasonably sure that most of her commanders were themselves, but she had decided on a risky course. By avoiding any sign she knew of those bodies, she had at least an idea of what her former teammate was planning, an advantage he did not know she had.

Orochimaru was the wild card in all of Tsunade's plans, and she needed to be prepared for whatever he was trying. She had no doubt that he would want to upset the peace conference, and only luck had given her warning of how he might do it. His men, disguised as Leaf, attacking the conference could end all hope of a peace. But if he did that, and if Tsunade could somehow turn that attack against him and use it to drive a wedge between the Mist and the Sound… then the situation would change dramatically.

"Let's go, then," the Hokage said after a few moments, and the five ninja reached the neutral location agreed upon for the talks only a minute late. A large tent had been set up by the ANBU and their Mist counterparts, but they did not enter, instead waiting for the other side to arrive.

That happened mere instants later. The Mizukage, accompanied by four uniformed Mist ninja, was dressed in his formal robes - unlike Tsunade. He bowed shallowly to his counterpart, but Tsunade had eyes only for the sixth member of his party. She hadn't been expecting this, and his presence forced her to reevaluate her expectations of what was about to happen and all but ruined her half-formed plans.

"Such a pleasure to see you again, Tsunade-hime," Orochimaru stated, smiling a smile that might have been comforting on any other face.

"It hasn't been long enough," Tsunade replied acidly, wishing that circumstances allowed her to kill her former teammate here and now. She didn't glance backward at Aburame Shino, but she knew that a single bug was already flying back to the Leaf encampment. It had been agreed that there would be a Sound representative present, but not that that representative would be Orochimaru himself. As soon as the bug reached one of Shino's clan mates, the Leaf forces would move into a position where they could better intervene in case of treachery.

"Forgive my ally's unplanned presence," the Mizukage said smoothly. "He arrived on unrelated business yesterday, and he insisted on coming himself." He paused, then added, "If you wish, I will send one of my guard back."

It took all of Tsunade's training to keep from showing anger. One guard was hardly an even trade for the presence of a man as dangerous as Orochimaru. The whole set up was a deliberate ploy, a way of driving home that, despite the fact that the Mizukage had requested the talks, it was the Leaf who were the supplicants here. "No need," Tsunade said, forcing a confidence she didn't feel into her voice as she stepped forward toward the tent. "Shall we begin?"

A few moments later, the three powerful ninja were inside the tent, seated around a rough wooden table. There was silence for almost a full minute, all three observing the others carefully. It was Orochimaru who spoke first, amusement in his voice. "Before we move to more serious matters," he said, "please allow me to discuss some… personal matters with my old friend here, Mizukage-dono."

The leader of the Mist just nodded, though Tsunade thought she saw a few traces of surprise in his face.

"What do you want, Orochimaru?" Tsunade asked bluntly.

"Merely to return a prized possession of yours that happened to find its way into my hands," the renegade Sannin replied. Smiling widely, he pulled out a necklace, and Tsunade's blood ran cold as she stared at it dangling from her former teammate's pale hand.

"You," she snarled, almost forgetting where she was and attacking.

"You should take better care of things like this," Orochimaru chided, tossing it at her. "A gesture of my good will," he continued as Tsunade reflexively caught it.

Unthinkingly, Tsunade studied the necklace for any hidden trap before placing it around her neck. If Orochimaru had this, then Naruto… and Jiraiya…

"Once we're done here," Orochimaru said, "perhaps I'll have time to tell the story of how I came across that." He laughed. "If we reach an… acceptable agreement and end this war."

Tsunade's hand clasped around the necklace, and she took a deep breath. "Perhaps," she said, forcing calmness into her voice, but she knew rage was blazing in her eyes, and she couldn't make herself care.

The Mizukage glanced curiously between the two Sannin. Then, he spoke. "Well, then. Shall we discuss the status of the Wave Country?"

* * *

"Three." It was Shikamaru who was giving the count, and Sakura forced herself to take a deep breath. There was no time to be nervous now, she reminded herself as she checked her distance from the small building that held the entrance to Orochimaru's lair. It looked the same as the one she'd seen on her first trip to Rice Field Country, though it was in a different location. Somewhere out there, Shizune was preparing the opening strike, but Sakura couldn't penetrate the jounin's genjutsu.

"Two." The veins around Neji's eyes bulged, but he did not give the signal to abort. There was no sign that they were about to walk into a trap, then. Beside Sakura, Ino finished wrapping an explosive tag around the hilt of a kunai.

"One." Rock Lee's body tensed, and Sakura knew that in an instant he could go from standing still to moving faster than she could see. Ren raised one hand to brush against the Mist sigil on her forehead protector.

"Go!" Shikamaru said, and in unison the six young ninja burst from the trees, charging straight for the seemingly unguarded building. That small structure vanished in an eruption of fire, the pillar of brilliant flame seeming to bridge the sky and the ground.

Sakura almost stumbled, unprepared for the raw power of Shizune's attack, but she recovered, not slowing any more than her companions. The tower of fire vanished, and the building was gone. Instead a shallow crater was before the charging ninja, a passageway deeper into the Sound's underground compound revealed. Whatever traps had guarded the entrance were no longer an issue.

What was an issue were the two people who suddenly appeared in between them and the crater. Without thinking, Sakura slowed, spreading out with the others to encircle the pair. A boy and a girl, Sakura noted, and after a moment she recognized them from the descriptions she had been given.

"You fuckers didn't think you could just sneak up on us like that, did you?" Tayuya asked sourly, her eyes flicking between her numerous foes. A tendril of shadow raced at her from Shikamaru, but the Sound kunoichi danced out of the way.

Her companion spat a ball of webbing at the shadow user, but Neji interposed himself between Shikamaru and Kidoumaru's attack, easily countering it. Ino tossed her kunai at the six-armed boy. He stopped it with another web, then jumped back out of the range of the explosive note wrapped around its hilt.

There was a blur of motion, and Shizune appeared mere steps behind the two Sound. "You two had best surrender now, or I'll be forced to hurt you."

Kidoumaru twisted around, a kunai appearing in his hand, but Shizune easily dodged. She grabbed the boy's arm, expertly disarming him and wrenching the captive limb behind his back. Then there was a puff of smoke, and all she held was an oddly shaped piece of deadwood. The jounin's eyes narrowed. "Replacement Technique?"

Kidoumaru reappeared on the other side of the new crater, held by another boy. "Thanks, Jabisen," the six-armed ninja said as he stood. The other boy just nodded silently.

Tayuya backed away from the momentarily distracted Shizune, and Sakura traded a look with Ren. The other girl nodded, and they charged, tendrils of flame streaming from their hands. From behind, Ino tossed a handful of shuriken to cover their advance. Tayuya spun about to face them, only to freeze as her own distraction let Shikamaru snare her.

Then she too was picked up and carried away to the relative safety of the far side of the crater. "You owe me one," Haruno Midori said mockingly as she released the other girl. "Or did you want to get captured again?"

"Shut the fuck up," Tayuya grumbled in response.

Releasing her Claw of the Fire Dragon, Sakura looked to Shikamaru and Shizune for a signal, and so it was Ino's gasp that alerted her to the next arrivals.

Sakura swallowed. "Sasuke-kun," escaped from her lips as she stared at her former teammate. His crimson eyes didn't even twitch in her direction.

Beside Sasuke, Yakushi Kabuto smiled. "Well, then," he said. "Now that we're all here, shall we begin?"

* * *

"What do you see, Hinata?" Kiba asked under his breath as he stared uncomfortably at the four Mist ninja standing on the other side of the tent containing the three village leaders. The Mist in turn seemed just as ill at ease as the Leaf, muttering among themselves as they studied the Hokage's surprisingly young honor guard.

"I can't tell," Hinata replied after a moment. "It might just be that they're what they appear to be, or it might be that they're using some sort of genjutsu." Her teacher had given her more than one lesson on how a skilled-enough genjutsu user could deceive even her eyes. "Maybe if I was closer, I'd be able to tell."

"We can't do that," Kurenai said softly. Both honor guards were to stay equidistant from the tent. "What about inside?"

"They're sitting and talking. Hokage-sama is upset about something," Hinata reported. "No signal, though."

Kurenai bit at her lip. "I don't like this."

"I would be surprised if you did," Shino commented after a moment. He glanced at the Mist from behind his dark glasses. "I could -"

"No way," Kiba interrupted. "I know you're smarter than that, Shino. They'll be on the look out for insects heading their way."

Shino's gaze turned to his teammate. "Listen to yourself," he said. "I am smarter than that."

"Sorry," Kiba said. "I'm just on edge."

"I know." Shino turned to Kurenai. "I can send a messenger bug to my father and ask for an update on our force's position."

The jounin nodded. "Good idea. They should be almost in place if they haven't run into any trouble. Ask them for regular status updates."

"Understood," Shino replied.

A moment later, Hinata tensed, and despite the bandages that covered her eyes her teammates knew that she had once more activated her Byakugan. Akamaru, resting at Kiba's feet, stirred, slowly rising. The Mist honor guard began to tense, and Hinata said, "It looks like they sent their own message somehow. Probably they noticed the bug."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Kurenai said.

Hinata relaxed. "They're calming down," she said.

"Our forces are in position," Shino stated suddenly. "They can be here within a minute of being signaled."

"Good." Kurenai frowned. "I just wish I knew what Orochimaru was planning. Keep studying the Mist, Hinata," she ordered. "If it is a genjutsu, you'll be able to see through it if you keep trying."

The Hyuuga heiress nodded, and the next half-hour passed in near silence. Inside the tent, the leaders talked quietly enough that no words could be made out, but from the tone of the discussion and occasionally raised voices Tsunade was very unhappy. Still, each time voices were raised in anger they eventually calmed down, and after a while Kurenai began to wonder if - against all her expectations - Orochimaru had no hidden trap prepared.

Then Hinata let out a soft gasp. All eyes on her, she grimaced. "Their genjutsu slipped," she said quietly, barely moving her mouth. "I can't be certain, since I haven't seen the technique before, but it looks like they're Orochimaru's."

"All right," Kurenai said. "Shino, send word to your father, but don't tell them to move yet. We don't want to -" The fake Mist stirred, and Kurenai stiffened. They must have noticed that Leaf's reaction and guessed that the game was up. What were they going to do? "Be ready," she warned her team, then took a single step forward.

The face Mist noticed her motion and one called out, "Is something wrong?"

"I was about to ask the same," Kurenai replied calmly. "You seem distressed." The dull murmur of conversation inside the tent stopped, and Kurenai knew the ninja inside had heard the conversation. She could only hope Tsunade could keep things under control in there.

There were several tense moments, then one of the false Mist spoke loudly. "Nothing is wrong," he said, "unless you have some problem."

"None," Kurenai responded, backing away. They couldn't afford to make the first move, not now. What was Orochimaru planning?

"The main force is alerted," Shino said quietly.

"Good." Kurenai's face was smooth as she studied the fake Mist ninja on the other side of the tent. "Thoughts?" she asked quietly. Her team was silent, and Kurenai wanted to sigh. How were any of them supposed to guess the mind of the legendary renegade Sannin? For all she knew his plan was for them to uncover his men and in doing something about it make the Mist see treachery.

The voices in the tent rose again, but this time it was Orochimaru's voice that was loudest. Kurenai still couldn't make out the words, but the false Mist reacted instantly, charging the tent. A moment was lost to surprise, then Kurenai snapped, "Stop them!"

Bugs poured out of Shino's coat, and Hinata ripped the bandages from her eyes as she charged, forming seals. "Shadow Replication Technique!" she breathed, a perfect duplicate appearing by her side. Akamaru had already been transformed into a copy of his master, and the two Kiba charged past the girl. Kurenai's own hands blurred and she faded from view, rapidly moving to circle around behind the enemy.

Kiba attacked first, he and Akamaru becoming whirling tornadoes and slamming into one of the fake Mist. There was a puff of smoke and a small boulder shattered under the attack, but when the enemy reappeared he still had a few bloody wounds.

Kurenai was behind him, and she thrust a kunai into his back. The man barely managed to avoid a fatal blow with an awkward last second half-dodge, but Kurenai knew that she could kill him in a matter of moments. These men weren't nearly as good as she'd expect if Orochimaru was planning assassination, but perhaps the Sound were running short of good ninja.

That was when the tent behind her exploded in a burst of water and powerful chakra. The force of the blast sent Kurenai stumbling forward, and one of her opponent's teammates would have gotten her if a wall of insects hadn't suddenly interposed itself. "Thanks, Shino," the jounin gasped as she straightened herself, noting that another false Mist had taken advantage of the opportunity to rescue her fallen foe.

Three blurs of motion erupted from the ruins of the tent. For an instant, the still forms of the three leaders were visible, then Orochimaru and Tsunade were gone, their battle carrying them away. The Mizukage stood silently for a moment longer, then he said, "I'll finish you four off quickly." At a curt gesture from him the false Mist backed away. "Unless you'd care to surrender and spare yourselves."

Kurenai returned to her team. "This isn't good," Kiba said nervously.

"If we don't keep him busy," Hinata said, "he'll fight Hokage-sama with Orochimaru."

"Shino," Kurenai prompted.

"The main force should be on its way." Even the normally impassive bug user let more than a little distress into his voice.

"A shame," the Mizukage said. "I really was hoping not to have to kill anyone today." He stretched out a hand, and suddenly the grassy plain where they all stood was the surface of lake.

Kurenai was able to react instantly, channeling chakra to keep herself from falling, but none of her genin were fast enough. "Katon: Fire Wave Technique," the jounin hissed, extending both hands in front of her. A wall of fire burst out from her hands, clouds of steam boiling off the suddenly created lake as the flames swept toward the Mizukage.

The Mizukage only sighed. "Suiton: Water Collision Destruction," he intoned, and a pillar of water descended from the sky, instantly extinguishing Kurenai's attack in a massive burst of steam.

The Leaf jounin cursed to herself. The Mist's leader wasn't even taking this seriously, wasting chakra by creating even more water when he could have used the liquid he'd already created - unless… her eyes widened.

"I see you figured it out," the Mizukage's water replication said from behind her, pressing a cold kunai at her back. "That counter distracted you long enough for me to do this." Kurenai glanced about and saw that her students were similarly indisposed. "Please surrender."

"I," Kurenai began. Before she could finish, she was in the branches of a nearby tree, cradled in someone's arms.

"Your students are safe. Get them and get out of here. It's going to be dangerous to stick around," a vaguely familiar voice ordered. Her rescuer vanished in a puff of gray smoke.

"The famed Toad Hermit," the Mizukage said slowly, the water at his feet beginning to swirl, "Jiraiya of the legendary Sannin."

"I'm so pleased you recognize me," the old ninja replied as he stood unconcerned atop the lake's surface. Spinning talons of water erupted up out of the lake, only to be shattered as a wall of wind rose to protect him. "Let's begin," Jiraiya said grimly, and the battle was joined.

* * *

Nara Shikamaru took a deep breath as, for several moments, all the combatants stood still. He took advantage of the brief pause to assess the Sound team arrayed on the other side of the crater Shizune had created. The Sound had a slight disadvantage in numbers, but not nearly enough of one to just charge in without a plan.

The most dangerous opponent was probably the oldest, Yakushi Kabuto. Shikamaru had a vague recollection of the man from the exams, but though he hadn't seemed too tough then, Shizune had assured him that the traitor was not only jounin-level, but Orochimaru's right hand man. He was Shizune's to deal with, Shikamaru concluded. None of the chuunin could hope to defeat him alone if he was truly that powerful.

Two of the younger Sound Shikamaru remembered from the race to stop Sasuke's defection. The six-armed boy, Kidoumaru, was a problem. His webs could snare anyone but Neji, and the Hyuuga had reported that if Kidoumaru was allowed distance and time to prepare a shot, he would be deadly to anyone without a defense to match the Heavenly Spin. He had to be kept busy in close combat, and because of those annoying webs Neji was the only one who could do that.

Tayuya was less of a difficulty, but still she could not be ignored. Her genjutsu could wreak havoc if she wasn't taken out of the fight quickly. Shikamaru knew her tricks, though, and he doubted she had picked up any new ones while she'd been rotting away in an ANBU cell. Hopefully, he could deal with her again, or at least keep her busy.

The other Sound kunoichi wasn't too impressive, but it was vital that Haruno Midori be kept away from Neji. They could not allow her doujutsu to force Neji to not use his Byakugan. If she managed that, the Leaf would be left with no counter to Kidoumaru's webs, except perhaps Lee's speed. He'd known she'd be here, though, and the choice of who to fight her had been easy enough, though. Shimano Ren would likely fight Midori regardless of orders, and Midori was likely to go after Sakura, so it fell to her to keep an eye on Ren and get Midori out of the area.

There had also been an obvious choice to fight Uchiha Sasuke. Shikamaru allowed a slight smile to show on his face as he saw that Rock Lee had already removed his weights and was studying the traitor. The Uchiha's Sharingan eyes might be able to read and copy Lee's moves, but if Sasuke's body wasn't fast enough to keep up, it wouldn't do him any good. If Sasuke was that fast, Lee had the best shot at staying alive long enough for the other Sound to go down. Then they could use superior numbers to take the traitor down.

That left one member of the Sound team, whose name was apparently Jabisen. Shikamaru knew nothing about him, and it was left to Ino to handle him. If anyone could, the plan was for them to help Ino and distract the Sound boy so she had a better chance of using her family techniques, but beyond that there was little that could be arranged in advance. Shikamaru studied the unfamiliar opponent, and he noted with a little surprise and distress that the other boy was staring back at him, anger visible on his face.

Jabisen glanced sideways at Kabuto, and the older ninja smiled slightly. "Yes, Jabisen-kun," he said, loudly enough for Shikamaru to hear. "That's the one who killed your sister."

Shikamaru couldn't stop himself from blinking, and in that instant the pause in the fighting ended. Jabisen jumped over the crater, charging straight at Shikamaru. He darted out of the way of the shuriken the oncoming Sound ninja hurled to cover his attack, reflexively sending a tendril of shadow toward Jabisen. He wasn't so easily caught, and he jumped once more, throwing more shuriken.

As though the charge was a signal, Kabuto and Shizune hurled themselves at each other, meeting in midair over the crater. There was the sound of metal striking flesh, and the two older ninja seemed to hang impossibly in the air for a moment. Then they both vanished, leaving behind two logs with kunai stuck in them, and Shikamaru couldn't follow their motion past that.

All around him the rest of the ninja were fighting, but Shikamaru didn't have time to focus on them. Jabisen was coming at him fast and hard, using simple physical attacks to drive him away from the rest of the fighting and never pausing long enough to get caught by a shadow. He wanted to fight without interference, Shikamaru concluded with a snort. Only to be expected if he thought Shikamaru had killed his sister.

But why did Jabisen think that? He wasn't well known enough for someone to bother concocting that sort of lie out of nothing, Shikamaru knew, so there had to be some truth to it. After he managed to snare Jabisen with a clever bit of fakery and usage of a tree's shadow - the other boy clearly not knowing as much about the Shadow Imitation Technique as he thought he did - Shikamaru took a moment to study Jabisen's features, and the answer became clear to him.

"The girl I fought in the preliminaries in the Chuunin Exam," Shikamaru said as he made the other boy drop the kunai he held. "I doubt you'll believe me, but I didn't kill her." He hadn't even known she was dead. The other boy snorted, but he didn't say anything. Shikamaru took a moment to look around and realize that the path of their battle had taken them out of sight of the others, though not out of earshot. "Listen," he began.

Then Jabisen opened his mouth, and all sound ceased. Something hit Shikamaru and he found himself flung into a tree. As he shook his head to clear it and struggled to rise, he caught a self-satisfied look on Jabisen's face. "What the hell?" Shikamaru muttered as he took a stumbling step forward, a part of him noting that Jabisen also looked a little shaken.

Shikamaru barely rolled out of the way of a hail of kunai, then disappeared into the tree. The other boy was smarter than he seemed. He hadn't just drawn Shikamaru out of the way for a one-on-one fight, but so that he could use this sonic attack without endangering his teammates. This might get a little tricky.

Before the other boy could strike again, Shikamaru retreated, hoping to buy himself time to think. He let Jabisen keep an eye on him, not wanting the other boy to despair and head back to the main battle; not when he had a powerful attack like that. The problem was figuring out a safe distance.

Jabisen opened his mouth again, and Shikamaru fell to his knees, his vision wavering and his hands reflexively covering his ears. "Damn," he mouthed, but he couldn't tell whether he spoke aloud, the ringing in his ears drowning out all noise. This time Jabisen stood straight, seemingly unaffected.

"Underestimated your range, huh?" Shikamaru said, then he released a smoke bomb and used the Replacement Technique to get to cover and regain some distance.

The trees shook as Jabisen unleashed a blind attack, and Shikamaru took a deep breath. His techniques couldn't do anything to stop someone from making noise, short of snapping their necks with the Shadow Neck Bind, and Shikamaru wasn't certain he could do that quickly enough to do him any good.

There was probably still a weakness to Jabisen's techniques - something to do with the difference between the time Jabisen had been affected and the time he hadn't, but it would take a while to figure it out. "I'm counting on you, everyone," Shikamaru muttered, and then he jumped away a moment before another sonic blast shattered the branch he'd been sitting on.

* * *

The sounds of battle filled the air all around the two powerful ninja, but neither had ears for it. Only the barest handful of the hundreds of ninja fighting in the surrounding woods could hope to intervene in the fight without dying in short order. This was the type of clash that would be remembered for years, even if it ended inconclusively. If one of the two Sannin fell this day, legends would be born from it.

Tsunade cautiously surveyed the large clearing, finding no sign that she had been lead into a prepared trap. It wasn't surprising, given that she'd had at least as much control of the course of their conflict's travel as Orochimaru, but it was always better to check. One of Tsunade's hands went to the accursed necklace she once again wore around her neck. "You're going to die today, Orochimaru," she said flatly, her eyes cold as they returned to her former teammate.

The snake master laughed. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Tsunade-hime." He smiled mockingly. "I have no intention of dying."

"I know," Tsunade answered, "but we can't always have what we want." Her fists clenched. "I think I'll enjoy denying you your desires."

"You're still as cruel as ever," Orochimaru replied. "I hope you've improved since the last time we fought." He raised one of his arms. "As you can see, I found another way to achieve the last thing you tried to deny me."

"I know," Tsunade said again, her eyes narrowing. "You monster."

Orochimaru's smile turned into a smirk. "Jealousy doesn't become you, Tsunade-hime."

"Jealousy?" Tsunade snarled. "Why the hell would you think I'm jealous of the… the abomination you've become?"

"We're more alike than you care to admit," Orochimaru stated. "Unless you want to claim that youthful visage is your true face." He smiled again. "Would you like to learn my immortality technique?" he asked. "You could be truly young again, like I am. You could take your pick of the Leaf's ninja, to find the greatest of hosts."

Tsunade spat. "You're more insane than I thought if you think that offer is even tempting to me, Orochimaru." She shook her head. "Even if I wanted that sort of immortality, I would never do that to my people."

"Yes," Orochimaru agreed. "You always were… limited."

"Limited, huh?" Tsunade asked. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Orochimaru nodded. "You would," he said. Then, with deceptive casualness, he raised an arm, and countless snakes poured out from under his sleeve, twisting in the air as they grew, hungrily reaching for Tsunade.

The Hokage's arm flung out in answer, and dozens of kunai, an explosive tag dangling from each hilt, flew through the air. Each perfectly found a gaping snake's mouth, and a torrent of small explosions filled the air with smoke and snake blood. A final kunai found its way to Orochimaru's heart.

The male Sannin laughed, the ensuing explosion only spraying the area with wet mud. As he emerged from the earth behind Tsunade, he said, "That wasn't even a challenge."

Tsunade smirked. "It wasn't supposed to be," she said, her hand twitching. Less than a second later, all the kunai she'd thrown were in the air, converging on Orochimaru from all directions.

His eyes just narrowed, and a sudden burst of wind knocked every weapon aside. "Pathetic," he commented, bringing one hand to his mouth and spraying a jet of fire at Tsunade's back.

Then Tsunade wasn't there, the fire flying on to impact against a tree trunk. Orochimaru barely had time to dodge as Tsunade came down on him from above, he foot leaving a massive crater as it struck the ground. Tsunade didn't let up the attack, following her former teammate and delivering a solid blow to his stomach.

Orochimaru's body bulged unnaturally, then exploded into a torrent of snakes that writhed around Tsunade, biting frantically. They lasted only a few instants, as an aura of flame sprung into being around the Hokage, turning the snakes to ash. Still, the bloody evidence that at least a few bites had struck home was more than evident as Orochimaru reappeared.

Tsunade just snorted as she turned to face him. "Poison of that level won't work on me," she said simply.

"I suppose not," Orochimaru said.

"Katon: Fire Lance," Tsunade intoned in response, extending one hand. A bar of solid white flame sprung from her palm, making the air shimmer as it flew at Orochimaru. The dry leaves scattered across the forest floor caught flame from the sheer heat radiating from the bright beam.

The renegade Sannin's hands blurred. "Suiton: Water Encampment Wall," he said, a jet of water escaping his lips and expanding into a torrent that met Tsunade's attack in a cloud of steam. Even as the flames died, water kept spewing from his mouth, streaming toward the Hokage.

Tsunade's foot stamped on the ground. "Doton: Earth Style Wall!" she shouted. The ground shook, and not just because of her unnatural strength. The earth twisted and deformed, a massive rock wall pushing up. Orochimaru's attack crashed harmlessly against the barricade, but Tsunade wasn't done, her hands rapidly forming more seals. "Doton: Spear Wall!"

Orochimaru danced back from the jagged protrusions that suddenly grew out of the wall, aiming for him. "Raiton: Thunderbolt Technique!" he called out, and a bolt of lightning descended from the heavens in answer, shattering Tsunade's earthen wall.

The Hokage didn't seem surprised, her hands still moving. "Doton: Rock Avalanche!" The crumbling wall began to fall toward her foe, the shattered pieces picking up speed and growing in size as they descended.

Orochimaru's hands froze on a single seal. "Fuuton: Divine Wind Technique!" he called, and a powerful wind picked up the oncoming wall of boulders and flung them miles away. For hundreds of yards in front of him, the forest was flattened by the force of the wind, and when the dust cleared Tsunade was nowhere to be seen.

Orochimaru sighed, turning around to face Tsunade as she slipped out of the earth. The Hokage smiled. "Starting to get serious, aren't we, Orochimaru?" she asked.

"Serious?" Orochimaru smiled. "Hardly. But if that is your wish…" He slowly began to form seals, thick ominous chakra beginning to fill the air around him. "This once," he continued as Tsunade backed away cautiously, "your wish shall be my command."

* * *

Neji let out a quiet curse as Jabisen charged Shikamaru and proceeded to drive the strategist away from the rest of the ninja. There went the neat little division of labor Shikamaru had worked out the last night. It wasn't completely unexpected, though. The lazy ninja himself had told them after giving them their assignments, "It's a cliche that no plan survives contact with the enemy, but it's a cliche for a reason. Don't sweat the details; just concentrate on taking your target down fast. If you can't get to your target, help someone else."

Wishing he didn't have to wait for Haruno Midori to be driven away before activating his Byakugan, Neji took Shikamaru's advice. The six-armed Kidoumaru was his responsibility, and he would deal with him. Moving with a speed that almost matched his green-clad teammate's, Neji charged the enemy ninja, who opened his mouth into a wide grin as he saw who was coming.

Webs spat out of that open mouth, and Neji risked activating his Byakugan for just an instant. Half that split-second he spent confirming that the chakra pattern of Kidoumaru's webs hadn't changed; the other half he spent shattering the web with a chakra-charged strike to its weak point. His charge didn't slow, and one mighty leap carried him over the still-smoking crater and to Kidoumaru.

"You're making a mistake," the six-armed ninja said. "I'm not going to waste time playing games with you this time." Like the tendrils of a vine, thin, curving black lines began to spread over his skin.

"You were just about to, you fucker," Tayuya said as she interposed herself between Kidoumaru and Neji. "Stop wasting your fucking time on the one guy who can break your webs. Go kill the rest of these bastards; I'll take care of the Hyuuga." After a moment, Kidoumaru's black marks retracted, and he nodded, though he seemed more than a little upset.

Neji's eyes narrowed as he remembered what Shikamaru had said about the kunoichi he had assigned himself to deal with. She used genjutsu and was weak in close combat. She wasn't going to be a problem. After a brief glance to ensure that Midori was nowhere in sight, he activated his Byakugan. "You don't think I'm just going to let him get away, do you?" he asked as he settled into a Gentle Fist fighting stance.

"You're not going to have a fucking choice, asshole," Tayuya stated, pulling out a flute. She jerked her head, and Kidoumaru raced away.

Or at least, he did until Neji suddenly appeared in front of him. "Eight Divination Signs," the Hyuuga said calmly. "Sixty-four Palms of the Hand." He smiled. "Two strikes." His hand darted out, closing two of Kidoumaru's tenketsu.

Explosively, the dark lines of the cursed seal spread over the Sound ninja's skin, and Neji almost faltered at the terrible chakra spreading through the other boy's bodies. "Four strikes," he stated grimly, but with each strike the markings of the cursed seal spread further and the dark chakra intensified.

One of Kidoumaru's elbows rammed at Neji's gut with surprising speed and strength, but the Hyuuga prodigy danced out of the way. "Eight strikes!"

Before half the blows had landed, Neji's vision suddenly blurred. In an instant, the six-armed ninja was gone, but Neji had other matters on his mind. His hands clasped together into a seal as he hissed out, "Release."

His vision returned to normal, and he saw Tayuya standing in front of him, her flute by her lips and the jagged lines of her cursed seal marring her skin. "Your eyes aren't so useful against my genjutsu, are they?" she asked mockingly. "This one won't be so easy to escape." Then she pressed her lips to her flute again, and the world vanished, replaced by a dark, featureless void. "Demon Flute," the Sound kunoichi said, "Infinite Darkness."

Neji snorted, pressing his hands together and stating calmly, "Release." The darkness didn't break, and Neji nodded to himself. It was only to be expected from a genjutsu expert. The seal his hands formed changed. "Byakugan."

Perhaps because of its sonic source, the darkness did not lift, but even through it Neji's eyes could see the pale glow of his opponent's chakra system, choked by torrents of black, foul chakra. Feigning disorientation, Neji stumbled about and almost smirked as he saw his opponent draw near.

Then she halted. "You're an idiot, you realize that, Hyuuga?" Tayuya asked, her arms moving in a motion that had to be bringing her flute back to her lips. The dark chakra in her surged. "That little rat Jabisen wants to kill tried the same sort of trick on me. I'm not going to fall for it."

Neji straightened. "It doesn't matter. Your genjutsu is useless against me." He began to charge, then Tayuya sounded a high note. He couldn't see what it was, but her felt something wrapping around his legs, tying them together.

The Sound kunoichi laughed mockingly as he fell over. "Don't they teach you about genjutsu at the academy in the Leaf Village?" Her arms dropped. "The longer you let an opponent's genjutsu persist, the more powerful it is and the easier it is for her to trap you in another technique."

Neji just grunted, struggling to move his legs, but he only managed to wriggle a little. His concentration turned inward, his eyes focusing on his own chakra system. If he could see how Tayuya's technique affected his chakra, he might be able to close tenketsu and break it without closing so many he wouldn't be able to fight.

"A ninjutsu like the Paralysis Technique would take all my concentration to hold you," Tayuya commented as she drew nearer. "I wouldn't be able to do this. Demonic Flute: Flames of Illusion."

Even knowing it was only a genjutsu, it took all of Neji's willpower to focus past the anguish as the dark void turned into a sea of fire. Compared to the genjutsu Midori had used on him in the exams, it was nothing, but despite her occasional step closer Tayuya showed no inclination to get close enough for him to use the same tactic. Worse, he could see no way to break the technique by closing tenketsu short of the same desperate measure of closing almost every one, which meant it wasn't worth doing if he couldn't end the fight with it.

"What a pity," he heard Tayuya say. "You're not nearly so much fun as that vermin. You could at least scream to make it more fun." She sighed. "I suppose I'll finish you off quickly."

Neji focused through the illusory pain, bringing his hands together once more. "Release!" he shouted, but his voice was drowned out by a loud series of notes. The infinity of fire surrounding and consuming him didn't even waver, and whatever bound his legs didn't release him.

Tayuya's dark chakra pulsed, somehow conveying a sense of amusement. "Strong will," she commented. "I almost broke a sweat holding the genjutsu, but you haven't the chakra strength to escape that way. No matter what you try, you're just going to dance to my tune."

Neji forced a deep breath, then his hands danced over his body. Each time they touched his body, they forced a tenketsu wide open, and when they were done they formed a simple seal once more. "Release," Neji whispered, and this time the fire and the pain vanished. He stood, his legs moving freely once more.

"How?" Tayuya asked, backing away.

"You talk too much," Neji said.

"I see." The Sound kunoichi's eyes narrowed. "You can open tenketsu to increase chakra flow as well as shut them to stop it. Interesting. That can't be healthy, though." The black lines on her skin writhed for a moment.

"You're one to talk," Neji said, knowing she was right. This was similar to - though less effective than - what Gai or Lee did by opening the gates, but if anything it was more dangerous. It put more strain on a smaller portion of the chakra system. In a matter of minutes, he would be doing serious, possibly permanent damage to himself. He'd only need minutes, though, if he was immune to Tayuya's genjutsu.

"I suppose those eyes are famous for a reason," Tayuya said after a moment, putting away her flute. She smiled. "It's a good thing I know more than just genjutsu," she said, the lines of her skin inching forward to cover ever more of her body.

"You won't get a chance to use it," Neji said, suddenly behind her. She started, and Neji struck her with a Gentle Fist strike to the back even as she tried to dodge. "That grazed your heart," Neji warned. "You can't hope to avoid my next strike. Stay down."

Tayuya began to laugh painfully, the lines crawling over her skin. "You won't touch me again in this life," she promised, one hand pressing to the ground. "Summoning Technique."

* * *

"Uchiha Sasuke-kun." Rock Lee's voice was calm as he began to unwind the bandages wrapped around his arms.

The traitor stared impassively across the crater with his crimson eyes. After a moment, Sasuke said, "Come." Lee spared just an instant to observe the battle beginning around him, then he was raising his arms to block a spinning kick just a moment before it would have been to late.

"That was unexpected of you, Sasuke-kun." Lee backed away, keeping his guard up.

"This isn't a game or an exam," the Uchiha said seriously. "You haven't time to look away from me."

"I suppose not," Lee said sadly, his eyes going to the single note on Sasuke's forehead protector. Then he was gone, and Sasuke almost started.

"Where," he muttered, his crimson eyes flicking about.

He was ready when Lee came at him from the left with a cry of, "Leaf Whirlwind," catching the other boy's leg and throwing him over his shoulder.

As Lee rolled back to his feet, Sasuke tuned to face him and smiled. "Leaf Whirlwind," he intoned, coming at the green-clad ninja with a perfect copy of his own attack. Lee blurred, vanishing and reappearing behind Sasuke as he landed.

Sasuke turned around again. "Come," he demanded again, his eyes spinning. "Show me your techniques."

A smile appeared on Lee's face. "Let's see how fast those eyes are," he said, and then he was moving, running circles around his opponent. The only sign of his passage was the massive ring of dust he kicked up.

Sasuke stood unmoving and unconcerned in the center of the clouds. There was a blur of motion and a clash of steel, and when the two ninja were still again Sasuke had turned around to face Lee, perfectly parrying Lee's strike with a kunai of his own. "You're fast," the loyal Leaf ninja said.

Sasuke snorted. "It's not that," he said, and his eyes began to whirl again. "You give yourself away with a thousand tiny motions, the instant you decide to move. I had all the time in the world to respond." He formed seals with one hand. "Shadow Replication Technique."

Lee was moving in an instant, his roundhouse kick sweeping the legs out beneath the three Sasuke in front of him, but all three vanished in clouds of smoke. Then he threw himself to the ground a second before Sasuke's kunai would have pierced his heart. Lee was back on his feet and facing his foe in an instant.

"That's my speed," Sasuke said.

"I see," Lee replied after a moment. "You truly are extraordinary, Sasuke-kun."

"Stop holding back, then," Sasuke stated. "You won't beat me if you don't fight with everything you have."

"And why do you want that?" Lee asked.

"To prove I am stronger than you," Sasuke answered, "and to take your techniques for my own." He smiled mirthlessly. "I can kill you whenever I like, but I would prefer to gain something from this fight."

"We'll see, Sasuke-kun," Lee said. Then he was gone, an instant before a spray of webbing would have pinned him where he stood.

"Kidoumaru," Sasuke said, his voice flat.

The six-armed ninja rolled out of the way of Lee's flying kick, spitting out another web as he stood. Lee blurred, vanishing and reappearing inside the Sound ninja's guard, his leg arcing up to kick Kidoumaru high into the air above the crater. The green-clad ninja vanished, reappearing floating behind his new foe. Kidoumaru's eyes widened.

Lee's bandages, moving as though they were alive, tightly wrapped the other boy, capturing all six arms. Lee's weight flipped the two over so that their heads faced the ground, and they began to spin rapidly. "Primary Lotus!"

"Shit," the six-armed ninja gasped out, and then they plunged to the ground. Mere instants before they hit, Lee kicked himself away, landing in a crouch on the other side of the crater. Kidoumaru hit the bottom of the crater headfirst. He toppled over, and did not rise.

Lee took a deep breath and stood, turning to face the impassive Sasuke. "You didn't help your teammate," he said after a moment.

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't care about him." He smiled coldly. "I want to fight you."

Lee stretched, ignoring the familiar ache in his muscles from the strain of the Primary Lotus. He could deal with that, but it was going to make this fight even more difficult. He hadn't had much choice, though. He'd needed to overwhelm the spider ninja quickly, before a lucky web snared him. "Then let's fight, Sasuke-kun," he said, and before the words had faded he was upon the Uchiha.

Sasuke smirked, blocking Lee's first attack, and for the next full minute they danced. Lee was a blur of motion, attacking his foe from every angle so swiftly that sometimes it seemed he struck from two directions at once. In contrast, Sasuke hardly moved and never attacked, simply deflecting each strike with arrogant ease. "Is that all?" he asked, sounding bored. "That's the speed that wounded Gaara of the Desert?"

Lee paused for just a moment. Moving so fast it hardly seemed he moved at all, Sasuke hurled a handful of shuriken at the other boy, but just as swiftly a kunai appeared in Lee's hands and parried them. "No," he said. He paused, then added, "You really can see my moves before I make them with those eyes."

"Yes."

Lee smiled, but there was no warmth in the expression. "Interesting. Would it make a difference if I came at you at full speed?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Perhaps," he allowed.

Then Lee was gone, a massive cloud of dust the only sign of his direction. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, then widened. He spun about, raising an arm to block a blow that didn't come, then jumped away from a low spin kick that would have knocked his legs out from underneath him. He turned once more to face Lee. "It is harder," Sasuke allowed, "but you can't keep that up for long."

Lee was breathing heavily, but didn't show any other sign of exertion, even as his body, still aching from the strain of the Primary Lotus, protested. "If you read my intentions with those eyes," he said, "I just have to keep moving faster and faster until you don't have time to react."

"Easier said than done," Sasuke said, and then Lee charged. It was a straight charge, with no subtlety too it, but it was fast and strong. Sasuke had less than a second to form seals. "Katon: Great Fireball Technique!"

A tiny spurt of flame became a massive, roaring fireball, but Lee was much too fast to be caught by it, jumping high into the air above the rolling flames. Sasuke smirked, then exploded into a puff of smoke, the flames dying down a second later. Lee's eyes widened as Sasuke reappeared, seeming to float behind him in mid-air. "Leaf Shadow Dance," he said.

"Yes," Sasuke said. He struck at Lee, who pushed the blow aside.

"Your Lion Combo," Lee said. Sasuke struck again, but this time Lee caught his fist. "It won't work on me," the green-clad ninja said, and then he somehow threw Sasuke away. The traitor spun in mid-air, eyes widening as he realized Lee was flying straight at him.

"You might be able to see what I'm about to do," Lee said, "but it won't matter." He hissed in what might have been pain, and then shouted, "Second Gate… Open!"

"This," Sasuke began, and then Lee kicked him further up into the air. In less than an instant, Lee had landed and leapt again, flying back toward the still-rising Sasuke.

"Third Gate," Lee growled out. "Open!" His skin began to darken, the strain he was placing on his muscles visible to the naked eye. "Secondary Lotus!" A punch pushed Sasuke even higher, then Lee landed on top of a tree, then he was back in the air, delivering a solid blow past Sasuke's helpless attempts to block. Sasuke went flying toward the ground, but Lee was waiting for him with another blow.

Lee's fist passed right through Sasuke, and the other boy exploded into a spray of wet mud. Lee passed through the wet ooze, then landed gently on the ground. He took a deep breath, then relaxed, his skin returning to its normal shade. His eyes went to the real Sasuke, and Lee let out his breath. "I hit you a few times," he said.

Sasuke nodded, clearly in more than a little pain despite his efforts to hide it. One of his hands was briefly encased in pale green chakra, and he passed it over his chest. "You won't be moving so fast after that."

"Medical ninjutsu?" Lee asked.

"With these eyes, it's simple to learn the basic techniques," Sasuke said.

Lee nodded. "Let's continue." It took a struggle to hide the weakness in his limbs, but everyone was counting on him. He had to keep fighting.

"I think I've gotten all I need from you," Sasuke said. "It's time to finish you off." Then he sighed. "But it seems we're about to be interrupted," he said.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Hyuuga Neji said flatly as he appeared beside Lee.

"Did you -" Lee began, but then a changed Tayuya also appeared on a treetop next to Sasuke. Lee would have started at her demonic appearance if he hadn't seen a similar transformation before.

"There are… difficulties," Neji admitted.

Tayuya smiled. "Running to your friend won't help, Hyuuga," she stated, bringing her flute to her lips, sounding a single note.

"Move," Neji hissed, and then an inhuman roar came in response to Tayuya's playing.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, Midori didn't try to avoid Sakura and Ren. When the other two girls came at her, she stood her ground, and when they tried to lead her away she followed. Less than a minute later, the three girls stood in a clearing a few hundred yards away from the rest of the fighting, putting the rest of the battle well beyond the range of Midori's technique..

If Ren, Neji, and Shikamaru's conclusion on that matter was accurate, Sakura reminded herself. They'd taken that distance and doubled it, just to be safe, but that didn't mean much. It was far more helpful that Midori couldn't see Neji, and the distance simply served to reduce the chance that the course of battle would bring the two into contact.

"Keeping me away from the Hyuuga freak, huh?" Midori asked.

"Of course," Ren answered. "We aren't stupid."

Midori shrugged. "I suppose not," she agreed. "Smart of you to double up on me. I can't snare both of you at once."

"No, you can't," Sakura said. "Give up. You can't beat us both."

Midori nodded. "You're right," she said agreeably. "The way I was before, I wouldn't have been able to defeat the two of you at once." She raised her hand, displaying the three black rings on the back of it. "I'm not the way I was before anymore."

Ren paled. "Don't, Midori. Mitarashi-sensei -"

"You saw her?" Midori asked. "I suppose she's dead then." Her voice was flat.

"Yes." Ren swallowed. "It was her cursed seal that killed her, Midori," she warned. "That… that thing is dangerous. Please. Let us help you."

"No," Midori said. She let the simple rejection stand for a moment, then added, "She died fighting you and these Leaf? Kabuto-sama will be pleased, I suppose, to learn that she didn't betray us."

"Don't you even care that your teacher is dead?" Sakura asked. Her eyes flicked about the clearing as she calculated the fastest way to get behind Midori. She couldn't imagine the talking lasting much longer, and it paid to be ready when the fighting began.

Midori shrugged. "Not particularly," she admitted.

"You," Ren snarled.

"You shouldn't be angry at me," Midori said mockingly. "I'm not the one who killed her."

Ren took a deep breath. "Listen to yourself, Midori. You… this isn't like you." She paused. "You… you always said that Mitarashi-sensei was the first adult to treat you like a person and not just -"

Midori froze. "You're right," she said after a moment, sounding almost confused. "She was."

In that moment, she dropped her guard, and Sakura charged, flames streaming from between the fingers of one of her hands. "Sakura!" Ren snapped angrily, but the Leaf kunoichi didn't stop.

The flames struck Midori, and there was a hiss of steam. She smiled, even as her form began to waver, the water that constructed it visible. "Silly little bitch," she said mockingly, and then she exploded.

The blast of water sent Sakura flying, but Ren was there to catch her. "You idiot," the Mist kunoichi snarled. "For a moment there I was getting through. A moment longer and I might have gotten the real one to come out."

Sakura shook her head. "Talking to her like that isn't going to work," she said, disentangling herself from Ren and standing. "Any more than it did on your teacher."

"That was Suicide Water Replication Technique," Ren said after a moment. "But Midori never had the chakra for that. And the control to keep it stable for that long -"

Sakura tackled Ren, a moment before a hail of kunai passed through where the two of them hand been standing. "You've become unobservant, Ren," Midori said as she walked into the clearing. An instant later, four more Midori joined her from other directions. "That's the second time she's saved you so far."

"Second?" Ren asked as she stood, but the Midori just laughed. "Remember, we don't have to worry about the clones' eyes," Ren hissed to Sakura as the two moved to stand back-to-back, the five Midori prowling around them in a circle.

"I'm not an idiot," Sakura replied. "I listened to what you said yesterday." Midori's doujutsu - most importantly the Gaze of Torment - couldn't be worked through a water replication's eyes. If Midori was using her usual tactics, none of the five that surrounded them were real. She would be using a cloaking genjutsu to hide and direct the clones. But Midori knew Ren was familiar with her tactics, which meant -

"Now," Ren hissed, and she charged, flames wreathing both her hands. Together, they plunged into one Midori, and the clone dissolved into water and steam. Ren turned to face another Midori, and for a moment their eyes met.

Not bothering to form a seal, the Midori stated, "Haruno Ninpou: Gaze of Torment." She smirked, and Ren screamed.

Sakura's arm moved, and three kunai embedded themselves in that Midori's side. She wavered for just an instant, then dissolved into water. "A replication?" Sakura hissed.

"I warned you," another Midori said, her voice light, "I'm not the same as before." She sighed as Ren shakily stood. "I haven't worked out how to keep the technique active once the clone is disrupted, though."

"I can't believe," Ren said, "that you'd use that technique on me."

"Maybe now you'll believe that I'm serious," a Midori said. "I'm not some prisoner to be saved, Ren. I'm with Orochimaru-sama of my own free will, just like Mitarashi-sensei was."

"And what about Saburo?" Ren asked, and all three remaining Midori were silent.

Shuriken filled Sakura's hands, as her gaze danced between the trio of Midori. Not seeing any tell-tale sign that one was real, she loosed her weapons at all three, and a moment later they were all puddles of water. "Too much to hope for, I guess," Sakura muttered as she tried to concentrate on piercing Midori's cloaking technique.

"Midori wouldn't just come out like that," Ren said as she moved to once again stand at Sakura's back. "She knows this is over once we find the real her."

"Yes," Midori's voice came. "If that happened I'd probably be forced to kill you, and I'd prefer not to do that."

Ren stiffened. "Is that so?" she asked.

"I've no use for your fake friendship anymore," Midori said, "nor whatever tiny amount of real affection you have for me. But you and Saburo helped me many times, and I owe you… and him that much, at least." Even though Sakura couldn't see Midori, she could feel the other girl's smile. "The same does not go for the pink-haired bitch, of course."

"Of course," Sakura muttered, her eyes narrowing. Which direction was the voice coming from? Was it the real Midori or another clone?

Before she could answer those questions, the small puddles left behind by the destroyed water clones rippled. Sakura and Ren leapt into the air mere instants before spiraling jets of water erupted from the puddles, colliding where they had been standing. The liquid tendrils twisted around each other for just a second, then sped at Sakura as she landed in a tree.

Sakura just formed seals before bringing one hand to her mouth. "Katon: Fireball Technique!" The burst of flame hit the water head on, erupting into a cloud of steam.

The branches above Sakura stirred, and in an instant Ren was there, claws of flame streaming from one hand. Cloaking technique discarded, Midori - or a Midori at least - flipped out of the way of the fire, diving toward the ground.

Sakura jumped from her own perch, tackling the other girl in midair and shoving her into a thick tree trunk. Midori recovered quickly, raising her eyes, but Sakura averted her own gaze. The distraction gave Midori enough time to force Sakura away with a sudden kick. The Leaf ninja lost her footing, but a bit of wire work saved her from a potentially dangerous fall.

Ren landed behind her on the same branch. "That's probably not her," she commented.

Sakura nodded. "Replacement technique after I hit her," she agreed. "She switched places with a water replication and re-established her cloaking genjutsu."

The visible Midori smiled. "Clever," she said. "I suppose I'm not supposed to notice that you transformed into Ren and created your own genjutsu?" she asked.

There was a puff of smoke, and Ren became Sakura. "You're tough to fool."

The real Ren seemed to appear from nowhere, disrupting Midori's clone with a sweeping kick. "This is getting us nowhere fast," she said. There was a sudden loud rumble and a blast of hot air. "What the hell?"

"Shizune-sama, I think," Sakura said, letting her motionless genjutsu clone vanish. "That's not our concern right now."

Ren nodded, then pointed downward. After a glance, Sakura nodded, and the two were on the ground. Despite straining all her senses, Sakura wasn't able to catch any hint of motion from Midori following them down. "She's good," the Leaf kunoichi admitted.

Ren nodded. "I'm not sure we can beat her like this."

"She could be heading back to Neji-san," Sakura said quietly, "and we wouldn't know."

"I heard that," Midori said from somewhere. "Fortunately for him, I'm much more interested in you." Sakura could feel her enemy smile.

"I'm so thrilled," Sakura said. "I always wanted a violent psychopath with a personal vendetta against me for no particular reason other than happening to be related to her."

"No particular reason?" Midori growled, and it took all of Sakura's willpower not to exchange a glance with Ren. "You ruined my life, bitch!"

Sakura's will wasn't strong enough to keep her from blinking. "Ruined your life?" she asked quizzically. "How the hell did I do that?"

"Our mothers were sisters," Midori said with a snarl. "It was your mother who was to marry my father, before she ran away. It was you who should have been the mistake with too-strong blood. You!"

"That doesn't make any sense at all, damn it!" Sakura shouted back at her, pushing away the sadness that welled up at the mention of her mother. "You do realize that neither of us would have been born otherwise?"

"Shut up!" Midori screamed, and Sakura had finally heard enough.

The pink-haired girl spun around to stand beside Ren, in one smooth motion loosing three kunai at where Midori had to be. There was a clatter of metal, and Midori's own weapons knocked Sakura's kunai aside, but the action destroyed Midori's cloaking technique.

Ren took a step back. "Midori," she breathed. Black, curving lines traced almost circular patterns on Midori's skin, covering one arm. The hint of more arcs peeked out from the collar of her shirt, threatening to expand across her neck and face.

"I'll kill you," the Sound ninja said, her voice flat as her green eyes sought out Sakura's matching gaze. "And maybe then you too, Ren." An ominous pressure filled the air, nothing compared to the power Mitarashi Kimi had displayed or even what she'd felt from Sasuke in the Forest of Death, but far more than Sakura had ever felt from Midori before.

Sakura swallowed. "Plans?" she asked.

Then Ren was at her back, wrenching one arm behind her and placing a kunai at her neck. "Don't move," she hissed at Sakura before speaking to Midori. "You might want to rethink killing me," the Mist kunoichi said without emotion.

Midori laughed, though there was something hollow in the laughter. "What's this, then?"

"The Leaf are far too trusting," Ren said, her voice still perfectly composed. "They're my enemies. What do I care what happens to the kid they're trying to rescue or to Sakura-san here? The only one I care about is Saburo. At this rate, helping the Leaf won't get me what I want. Helping you, on the other hand…"

"A trade," Midori said. The markings of the cursed seal pulsed, then rapidly retreated until they vanished entirely, leaving only the black rings on the back of her hand.

Sakura tensed, searching for an escape, but Ren only pressed her kunai tighter, drawing a hint of blood. "Stay still," Ren said softly, and Sakura had no choice but to comply. "Give me Saburo, and I'll give you her and leave you be. I'll even report that you and Mitarashi-sensei died escaping the Leaf Village, so no hunter ninja will be sent for you."

"I like the idea," Midori said. "We both get we want." She shook her head. "I'm not sure I could get Kabuto-sama to agree, though. I could just beat you and we'd have all three of you."

"Is his approval so important to you?" Ren asked.

Midori rubbed at the cursed seal with her other hand. "This is my home now," she said firmly. "I'm not going to ruin what I've been given here for you."

"I heard the Leaf talking," Ren said after a moment. "Sakura-san is the Hokage's apprentice. Tsunade of the legendary Sannin's apprentice." She paused. "And I'll help deal with the other Leaf. I know their strategy for this battle."

Midori hissed, and then she grinned widely. "That does change matters slightly," she agreed. "We have a deal, Ren." She stepped forward, grabbing Sakura's chin with one hand and forcing the pink-haired girl's face up to meet her gaze. "Haruno Ninpou," Midori said cheerfully, "Gaze of Torment."

Sakura screamed as the pain consumed her, every bit as bad as she remembered from the chuunin exams. Ren released her, and she fell, another scream escaping her lips as she hit the ground in an explosion of even worse pain. As she writhed on the forest floor, she felt movement above her.

"No," Midori said, "let her suffer."

"I'm not going to let her give away our position," Ren said, and a moment later her hand struck the back of Sakura's neck, and the pain faded away into blackness.

* * *

For Yamanaka Ino, things began to go wrong almost instantly as the battle started. Her designated target went for Shikamaru, and before Ino could react the two were gone. She immediately searched for Shikamaru's target, even as a part of her mind reminded her just how few options she had against a ranged fighter with strong genjutsu. When she saw that Neji had already engaged her, she searched for his opponent, and moved to intercept as the six-armed ninja headed to interrupt Lee and Sasuke's fight.

Kidoumaru casually spat a web at Ino, but the kunoichi darted out of the way, throwing a kunai at him. Without breaking his stride, the Sound ninja caught the weapon and sent it on a return path. Again Ino dodged, running closer to the boy as she formed seals. "Katon: Fireball Technique!"

For the first time the Sound ninja seemed concerned about her attempts to stop him, rolling out of the way and coughing up another burst of webbing. Ino dodged once more, but this time Kidoumaru followed up with a second web an instant later, snaring her. Not wasting any further time on Ino, the six-armed boy went on his way toward Lee and Sasuke.

The kunoichi lay still for what seemed like hours but could only have been a minute. It was the wet, disgusting sensation of the sticky webs covering her skin that finally pushed Ino out of her brief stupor. Her first attempts to break the web proved predictably futile, but after a while she got one arm free enough to take out a kunai and start cutting away the webs.

The going was painfully slow, though, even as the sound of battles all around her drove Ino to more furious efforts. She had to saw away for some time at each strand of web to weaken it before it would break, and there were dozens or hundreds of stands binding her. Worse, if she wasn't careful the blade would get stuck in the thicker strands, and it took quite a bit of struggling to wrench free. If any enemy's attention fell on her, she would be helpless.

Not that she was worth paying attention to, it seemed. Snarling at the thought, Ino put a bit too much strength into her blade work, and she almost cut her bound arm. After taking a quick pause to calm herself, Ino went back to work more carefully, and soon enough her second arm was free.

With that, she could now form seals, and she reflexively ran through the techniques she knew, hoping to find one that would help her now. "Spider webs burn, don't they?" the blonde asked herself dubiously. Could she manage to burn away the web without hurting herself too badly? It didn't seem likely.

A sudden, inhuman roar disturbed her thoughts. Ino started, gasping as she looked across the crater. Kidoumaru was nowhere to be seen, but Sasuke stood near the crater's edge, seemingly unconcerned and staring at Lee and Neji. For once almost none of her attention went to the Uchiha. Instead it went to the inhuman-seeming girl that had to be Tayuya. The cursed seal's second stage had been described to Ino, but that hadn't prepared her for it. She'd never seen anything like it.

Then there was another roar, and an even more demonic figure, easily four times the height of a grown man, burst from forest, brandishing an oversized warhammer and charging at Lee and Neji. Its skin was almost a human color and more disturbing for the closeness. Crimson, liquid-seeming markings ran up and down its limbs, occasionally appearing to shift and move.

The demon paused, sniffing at the air, and bile rose in Ino's throat as she saw that its eyes were sewn shut, blood or some fouler substance oozing from them. Tayuya played a rapid sequence of notes. Faster than Ino could see, the demon's hammer came crashing down, flames exploding out from where it hit the ground, but Lee and Neji were already gone. There was a high-pitched note, and Tayuya and the demon followed.

For just a moment, it seemed like Sasuke's crimson eyes focused on Ino, and she froze in fear. Then the moment passed and the traitor was gone. It took Ino several seconds to recover her breath, but eventually her heart stopped racing. She looked about, confirming that the battle had carried all the other ninja out of sight, and then she drew her kunai once more and got back to work.

Less than a minute later she froze again at the sound of footsteps and indistinct voices. If some enemy were approaching, her only hope would be for them to believe her already dead. She held herself perfectly still as the footsteps grew louder. There were two people, Ino noted coldly. Sound reinforcements?

When the two came into Ino's field of vision, it took all of the blonde's willpower not to show any reaction, to keep every muscle still. She watched glumly as Midori and Ren carried a still, unconscious Sakura down into the crater, fury rising in her. As soon as the other three kunoichi were gone, Ino attacked the webs binding her with newfound energy. She was damned if that bitch Ren was going to get away with betraying them like this. Everyone else was busy with their own battles; it was up to her to save Sakura.

It took her less than a minute to clear away enough of the webs that she could break free. Brushing a few strands still stuck to her away, she looked around to ensure that there were no enemies in sight, then jumped down to the bottom of the crater. She landed right in front of the rubble-strewn, shadowed entrance to the underground corridors.

There was a groan behind her, and Ino spun about. When she saw Kidoumaru slowly sitting up, she didn't freeze. She was on him in an instant, a kunai in her hand. Then she was flying away to slam into the rough cavern wall.

The six-armed ninja yawned, as he finished standing. In one hand he held Ino's kunai. "You again?" he asked, another of his hands rubbing at his eyes. "I suppose I'll take the time to kill you this time before I go find that Lee kid. He won't get so lucky this time."

Ino stumbled away from the wall, fumbling for another kunai. Kidoumaru yawned again before tossing the weapon he'd from the kunoichi back at her. Ino rolled out of the way, starting to form seals.

A moment later she was pinned against the wall, one of her enemy's arms around her throat while two others shoved her own arms against the rough rock. "You're not seriously trying to fight me, are you, little girl?" Kidoumaru asked. His hand tightened around Ino's throat.

With desperate strength, Ino brought up one foot, kicking at the Sound ninja and shoving him away. The boy took a half-step backward, grunting slightly, but didn't release Ino - until the blonde's other foot came up between his legs.

"Bitch," the boy hissed, stumbling backwards. A kunai appeared in one of his hands, embedding itself in Ino's stomach.

Ino gasped in pain, but her now-free hands still froze on a seal. "Mind-Body Switch Technique," she said painfully, and then she slumped to the ground.

Kidoumaru froze for an instant, and then he stumbled. "Damn, this body is weird," Ino muttered through his lips. "Bad enough that he's a boy, but this one's got even more extra parts." She moved one of Kidoumaru's arms to rub at a strange burning sensation on his back, then knelt over her own still body.

She stared down at her wounded, weakly breathing self with Kidoumaru's eyes. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she pulled the kunai out of her body, then tended to the wound as best she could. She wasn't going to be able to fight well, but it should keep her stable until Shizune could heal the wound.

The burning sensation on Kidoumaru's back grew, and Ino began to feel something stirring in the back of her mind. "It's not going to be that easy," Ino muttered as she opened her packs, pulling out a small canister of knockout pills Shizune had given her the night before for just this purpose. She quickly unscrewed the cap, then poured out two into Kidoumaru's hand and made him swallow them. His vision began to blur, and Ino barely managed to force two of his hands together and gasp out, "Release."

A short while later, Ino was back in her own body. She stood weakly, then almost collapsed. Gritting her teeth through the pain, she bound Kidoumaru's unconscious form before forcing herself to step forward toward the entrance into Orochimaru's lair. "I'm coming, Sakura."

* * *

There was laughter ringing in Naruto's ears as he awoke. "Not here again," the young ninja grumbled as he stood up, ignoring the warm, murky water he had been lying in. His eyes traveled to the moldy, dark walls, wondering not for the first time where the dim, too-warm sunlight that poorly lit these halls filtered in from.

"Shut up, you damn fox," he muttered back at another low, rumbling laugh. Knowing there was no other choice, he started walking, not caring what direction he traveled in. All paths lead to the same destination in this place.

Before too long, Naruto once more stood before the massive gate that constrained the demon fox. Within moments, the demon's giant face was pressed against the bars, huge, crimson eyes staring down at the tiny ninja who contained their owner. "Brat," the Kyuubi rumbled. There was a hiss as a drop of spittle fell from the demon's fanged maw, a cloud of steam erupting where it hit the foul water.

"What do you want?" Naruto demanded, struggling not to show the primal terror growing inside him. The demon's presence filled this place, an aura of malice and hatred that dwarfed even the foulest, most terrible power Naruto had felt from a human being. Even the twisted chakra drawn out by Orochimaru's cursed seals felt less evil.

The Kyuubi's breath was heavy, the foul stench making Naruto wince. "What do you want?" it echoed.

"I want you to shut up, let me out of here, and never bother me again!" Naruto shouted at the giant fox.

The demon laughed loudly, and the force of its laughter pushed the much smaller ninja back. "You cannot lie to me, brat. I can smell your feelings. You are worried and not for yourself." Its eyes began to glow. "Fool."

Naruto took a step forward, his hands clenching into fists. "So what? My friends are in danger! Of course I'm worried!"

"Friends?" The Kyuubi's face pressed closer against the bars. "Do you wish to save them?"

"Of course," Naruto repeated, but his voice was hesitant. What was the demon up to?

"Then merely step inside," the fox stated, drawing back from the gate slightly. "Else, your body will merely lie sleeping while your soul remains here."

"'The only way out is through,' again?" Naruto asked, rolling his eyes. "Enough. I didn't fall for that before, and I'm not going to now."

"Only my power can burn the poison from your veins, brat," the Kyuubi said. "Only I can grant you the strength to defeat all your foes. Come inside or tear down this seal, and all this will be yours." The sudden wave of power knocked Naruto down, the immaterial pressure stronger than any physical blow. Behind the bars of the gate, an infinity of crimson, demonic chakra burned, and for just an instant Naruto could see the demon in its entirety.

After a moment, the young ninja managed to rise. "No. I'm not going in, and you aren't coming out."

The Kyuubi snorted and, high on the gate, the fragile-seeming slip of paper with the word 'seal' on it began to smolder. "You believe your will matters in this, brat? Not in the slightest; not anymore."

Naruto stumbled back as the water before him began to boil, crimson chakra seeping out from behind the gate. "What?" he asked, swallowing nervously.

"Did you think there were no consequences when you called upon my power in the past, brat?" the Kyuubi snarled. A drop of blood fell from its lips, landing with a giant splash on Naruto's side of the gate. The blood began to swirl in the boiling water, fusing with the glowing chakra that still poured out from the gate. "Every time you brought my chakra through, you let a piece of me out as well, brat. Every time, this accursed seal your so-called Fourth Hokage gave his life to create weakened."

"If you don't need me," Naruto asked, "why try to get me to come through?"

"Your cooperation would hasten my release," the demon said, "but it is not necessary for it." The swirling mixture of blood and chakra began to rise up out of the dark water, forming itself into monstrous, twin-tailed fox that stood almost half again Naruto's size. A second, then a third monster began to form behind the first, though these boasted only one tail.

Naruto swallowed again, and his hands blurred. Before he could finish forming seals, one of the one-tailed foxes swiped at the air with one paw. Its leg lengthened, stretching unnaturally and twisting around to slam Naruto back into the far wall. Even as the ninja struggled to rise, the blood-and-chakra foxes advanced.

The Kyuubi laughed loudly, and the two-tailed fox leapt into the air, passing over Naruto's head and racing into the dark corridors behind him. "What?" the ninja asked, as he slowly sat up.

"For me, just as for you," the demon answered, "the only way out is through." Its amusement filled the air. "I will teach you a lesson, brat, while these two of my children keep you busy." The remaining monsters began to slowly advance on Naruto.

"A lesson in what?"

"Of the gifts I will grant when you obey me," the Kyuubi said, "and of the punishments I will exact when you defy me." It grinned widely, its teeth seeming to glow in the dim light. "All your enemies shall perish," it promised, "but so shall your friends."

Naruto stood, all fear and nervousness gone from his face. Pale blue chakra flickered around him as he faced down the two remaining monstrous foxes. "No," he said firmly. "That's not going to happen."

* * *

"What the hell are you planning?" Tsunade asked, taking an involuntary step back at the dark nature of the chakra Orochimaru was channeling. Whatever tiny doubt remained in her mind that the foulness released by the cursed seals was connected to her former teammate vanished. The mere aura of Orochimaru's power made the Hokage sick to her stomach.

"You need to ask, Tsunade-hime?" Orochimaru grinned, pausing briefly in his forming of seals. "I'm going to kill you."

"You're going to try," the female Sannin corrected grimly. She frowned. "This is no ordinary technique."

"No," Orochimaru agreed. "It's the same technique I used to kill Sarutobi-sensei." He smiled again. "It seems appropriate."

"You think I'm just going to let you finish it?" Tsunade asked, and then she was in the air behind Orochimaru, her foot spinning toward the side of his head. His body wavered, then erupted into a storm of serpentine forms. Several snakes perished from the force of Tsunade's kick, but the rest slithered away to reform once more into Orochimaru's form.

"Let me finish?" Orochimaru said. "I don't need your permission." His hands settled into a final seal. "Summoning: Resurrection to the Impure World."

Tsunade's eyes widened, and she backed away as two glowing purple holes opened in the ground between her and Orochimaru. "This," she breathed.

"Yes," Orochimaru said. "I see you've at least heard of this technique."

"You're a monster," Tsunade said. Orochimaru just let out a wordless cry, power flowing from him as two wooden coffins slowly rose up out of the holes. The Hokage grimaced, then charged her former teammate.

"How pointless," the renegade Sannin observed, dancing out of the way of Tsunade's first blow. The coffins stopped rising, but the snake master seemed unconcerned, rapidly forming a short set of seals. "Summoning Technique."

The massive snake that appeared lunged at Tsunade, forcing the kunoichi to jump away. Three seconds later, a storm of fire had consumed the summoned beast, but that was long enough for the coffins to have finished emerging. Tsunade turned to them, then froze, a look of horror appearing on her face as the lids fell off, revealing the bodies within.

"I promised you I would bring them back," Orochimaru said cheerfully as his former teammate's legs wobbled and she almost fell to her knees. He smiled. "You're welcome."

"Nawaki," Tsunade said painfully as she looked at the young boy who was stumbling out of one coffin. Then her eyes turned to the older man emerging from the second. "Dan," she added, her voice breaking.

The silver-haired man, clad in an outdated Leaf uniform, glanced first at Tsunade's young brother, then at the man who stood behind him. "Orochimaru," he said darkly. "I see I was right about you all along." He stared at Tsunade's grief-stricken face for a moment before adding, "Or perhaps even I misjudged the depths of your evil."

"Tsunade-neechan?" Nawaki asked confusedly, staring at the woman in front of him. "Is that you?"

She nodded wordlessly. "Orochimaru," she hissed. "Why bring him back? He was only a genin."

Nawaki blinked, turning backward. "Orochimaru-kun?" he asked. "Are you… why are you fighting Tsunade-neechan? Why are… what's going on?"

Orochimaru ignored the dead boy, instead answering Tsunade's question. "Merely to cause you more pain… Fifth Hokage-sama," he stated.

"Hokage?" Nawaki said in awe, only to be echoed by a "Fifth?" from Dan.

"How long -" Dan began, only to cut off. "I suppose it doesn't matter."

"No, it doesn't," Orochimaru agreed as he stepped forward. Two kunai appeared in his hands, red tags covered in arcane sigils dangling from them. "I think that's more than enough catching up."

"If there is any justice in this universe, Orochimaru," Dan said, "I will be able to travel to whatever hell your foul spirit is destined for so that I may enjoy your suffering when you perish."

Orochimaru smiled. "I don't intend to die, Dan-kun," he stated. "Ever." Then he thrust both kunai into the heads of the two dead ninja, his hands and the weapons passing into them as though they were insubstantial. Almost instantly, the gray, pale skin and clothes of Nawaki and Dan began to brighten, the strength and vitality they had possessed in life returning to them. At the same time, though, all emotion vanished from their faces.

"You," Tsunade growled, but despite her anger her voice wavered as her eyes flicked between her brother and her lover.

"Prepare to die, Tsunade-hime," Orochimaru said, and as though that were a command the two dead ninja charged the Hokage.

Reflexively, Tsunade weaved around their blows. She unthinkingly blocked a weak punch from Nawaki, then counterattacked. The young genin almost exploded from the force of her punch, ash and dust streaming out of his body as it landed on the other side of the clearing, behind Orochimaru. Tsunade froze. "Nawaki."

"Raiton: Lighting Palm." Dan's cold words made Tsunade's eyes widen, but her moment of distraction kept her from dodging. Electricity crackling around it, Dan's open hand lightly struck at Tsunade's stomach.

The kunoichi stumbled backward away from the blow, almost losing her footing, and there was a crack like thunder as Dan's technique expended itself on empty air. Dan moved into a low, sweeping kick, but Tsunade just barely managed to recover quickly enough to dart out of the way. "Dan," she said, her voice breaking once more.

"Katon: Fire Dragon Blast!" One of the man's hands went to his mouth, guiding a jet of white-hot flame at Tsunade. The Hokage raised her hands to shield her face and channeled chakra into the air to force the fire away from her body, but the force of the attack still pushed her back against a tree.

"You can't afford to be distracted by sentimentality," Orochimaru advised. "Besides, your brother is already recovered." Indeed, the young genin stood once more, and Tsunade's eyes widened in new horror as she watched the last bits of ash flowing back into Nawaki's body. Orochimaru grinned. "Since they're already dead," he said mockingly, "they can't die in battle either, Tsunade-hime."

Tsunade stomped at the ground, her strength making the earth crack open. Dan jumped backward, out of the way of the suddenly opening chasm. "You'll… you'll pay for this, Orochimaru," Tsunade said. "I swear it."

Orochimaru laughed. "Tsunade-hime, I already told you not to make promises you can't keep. The way you're fighting now, there's no way you could defeat our dear Dan-kun even if he could be killed. All you're doing is delaying the inevitable."

"Shut up," Tsunade snarled.

"Dan-kun was a swordsman, wasn't he?" Orochimaru asked as his two summoned ninja charged Tsunade once more. He smiled, and then his mouth gaped open, a snake's head emerging from it. The renegade Sannin reached up, pulling a straight sword from the snake's mouth.

Even as he did this, the two dead ninja reached Tsunade. She avoided their blows, but didn't strike back, instead leaping away. There was no hesitation in her opponents as they followed her, neither anger nor sadness on their faces.

"Catch," Orochimaru said simply, tossing the legendary sword Kusanagi into the air.

Wordlessly and without pausing, Dan reached up and snagged the hilt in midair. Then he did hesitate, but only for a moment before jumping into the air above Tsunade. "Dance of the Crescent Moon," he intoned, his form blurring as flickering, illusory copies emerged from it.

Tsunade countered the wrong strike, and all the images save the real one vanished as Dan thrust Kusanagi through his lover's shoulder and into a tree, pinning the woman. His hand tightened on the hilt. "Raiton: Sword of Thunder," he stated, and Tsunade screamed as electricity exploded along the blade.

Orochimaru smiled widely. "And now, Tsunade-hime, just as I promised… you will die."

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke's eyes narrowed as the demon drove Lee and Neji away. "I didn't ask for your help," he said coldly to the almost as demonic-looking kunoichi who stood atop the tree next to him.

"Sorry, Sasuke-sama," Tayuya spat unrepentantly, then she played a high note on her flute. The inhuman demon below vanished, and Tayuya followed a moment later.

Sasuke's eyes swept the battlefield. The only person remaining was one ninja trapped in Kidoumaru's webs. Sasuke grunted to himself. No point in staying here, if that was the case. His body tensed, and then he leapt away in a sudden whirlwind of leaves.

He landed atop a tree next to his nominal teammate. Tayuya didn't even glance at him, playing a rapid sequence of notes on her flute, directing the demon below. Sasuke glanced at the battle, and it took him less than an instant to notice that something was wrong. Hyuuga Neji wasn't using his clan's famed Gentle Fist, instead using his comparatively clumsy abilities at more standard taijutsu. Why?

A moment's further thought, and Sasuke determined the answer. The Hyuuga's opponent wasn't human. What need had a demon for tenketsu or even internal organs? The physical form it presented was just a way for it to interact with the real world. Any organs it had were merely… ornamental. Damaging them would be pointless. The only way to defeat the monster was to damage the body enough that it couldn't hold together, and that took strength, not precision.

Not that the pair of Leaf ninja were having much success with that, though. The demon was large and powerful, and even without its weapon it had an enormous advantage in reach. With the warhammer and the flames each strike with it produced, coming to blows with the monster was a tough struggle all by itself. Neji could only serve as a distraction, and Lee was already tired from his… exertions against Sasuke himself.

So, what would the two do? Sasuke smirked, and he wasn't surprised when the demon's hammer struck Neji, nor when the Hyuuga dissolved into wisps of gray smoke. Instead he was moving, catching the real Neji's arm as he struck for Tayuya's heart.

"You," the Hyuuga snarled.

The Sound kunoichi echoed the Leaf ninja a moment later, but it was surprise instead of anger in her voice. "You. Wh -"

"If the puppet is too strong," Sasuke said dryly, "attack the puppeteer instead." He snorted. "Basic."

Neji wrenched his arm free, leaping away and landing atop the tree where Sasuke had stood a moment ago. "As you say."

"Fight me," Sasuke commanded the other boy, then he glanced at Tayuya. "Keep Lee busy, if you can at least manage that." Without waiting for a response he jumped at the Hyuuga.

A few moments later the two boys were on the ground, out of sight of Tayuya and Lee's battle. "You can't take my techniques," Neji said flatly.

"I know," Sasuke agreed. "But I can test myself against you."

"You've changed," Neji said, the veins around his eyes bulging. "And not for the better."

Then Sasuke was behind the other boy, a kunai pointed at his neck. "Who are you to determine that?"

Neji's eyes didn't move, but Sasuke could tell the other boy still looked at him. "A man," he said, "with the eyes to see." Then Sasuke was flying away.

The traitor spun in midair, landing on his feet. "That wasn't Gentle Fist," he said, amused.

"I use my bloodline. I am not defined by it." Neji's hands blurred, and a ball of flame spurted from his lips.

A massive firestorm emerged from Sasuke's mouth, obliterating Neji's attack. "You seek to use that sort of technique… on me?" The Uchiha snorted. "Don't waste both our time."

Then he was dodging Neji's flying kick from behind. A kunai flew from his hands to pierce the heart of the first Neji, who vanished in a puff of smoke. "Shadow Replication," Sasuke said as he regained his feet. "You're not bad; it took me almost two seconds to know you were using that technique." An open handed strike disrupted the second Neji. "I know where you are," Sasuke said. "Come out, or I'll make you come out."

After a moment, the real Neji melted out of the earth, settling into a Gentle Fist stance after emerging. "Let's do this, then."

"Let's," Sasuke agreed, and the two boys came together in a blur of motion, exchanging a rapid series of blows.

Then the earth rumbled, and they broke apart. "What -" Neji began.

"This power," Sasuke muttered. He smiled, and dark lines moved across his skin, foul chakra seeping from him. "Go," he told Neji. "Run. Or die. I care not. I've more pressing matters than playing with you."

The Hyuuga took an almost involuntary step back, and then Sasuke was gone, heading for one of the secret entrances to the Sound's underground base.

* * *

"We're here," Midori said, stopping in front of a wooden door. She fished out the ring of keys she'd lead Ren on a brief detour to find and opened it. She gestured, and Ren, still carrying Sakura's motionless form, stepped inside.

"Ren!" Aoki Saburo yelled from one of the cells lining the narrow hallway she found herself in. When the other girl stepped through, the Mist prisoner's eyes widened. "Midori? What's going on? Is that -"

"Shut up!" Midori growled as she stepped past Ren and Sakura. "See, Ren, there he is." She took another key and unlocked an empty cell. "We'll stick her across from the other one."

Ren finally noticed Anko's still form lying on the floor of another cell. "Mitarashi-sensei's sister?" she asked. "She's still alive?"

"Kabuto-sama wanted her for experiments," Midori explained, gesturing impatiently for Ren to drop Sakura in the cell.

"What the hell is going on?" Saburo demanded.

"I'm trading her for you," Ren said, taking a step closer to the cell.

Midori stepped aside. "Go ahead," she said.

Ren nodded. She walked past the other girl, then stumbled, dropping Sakura. As the limp Leaf kunoichi hit the ground with a soft thud, Ren almost tripped again over her former burden, falling to one knee. Midori snorted.

"It's been a long couple of days," Ren said, taking a deep breath. She glanced down at Sakura, and added a soft, "Sorry."

"What was that?" Midori asked, taking a step closer.

Sakura's eyes opened and her hand shot out, grabbing Midori's ankle and pulling the former Mist ninja down on top of her. The cell keys went flying from Midori's hands as the surprised girl fell. "Bitch," she snarled as she grappled with Sakura briefly before throwing her away and flipping back to her feet.

The Leaf ninja grunted as her back hit the door of an empty cell, but she recovered before Midori could attack, regaining her footing. As Midori charged her, her hands formed a rapid sequence of seals. "Katon: Fireball Technique!"

Midori crossed her arms, shielding her face from the worst of the weak blast as she stumbled backward. "Ren!" she shouted.

The Mist kunoichi shook her head, opening her hand to reveal the ring of keys Midori had dropped. Wordlessly, she threw them as straight and true as any kunai, through the bars of Saburo's cell. Grinning, the boy began to work his way through the keys, searching for the one that would free him.

"You traitor," Midori growled as she backed away down the narrow hallway, glancing between her two opponents. "Is this what your friendship is worth, Ren?" The dark, curving lines of her cursed seal exploded from her hand, racing up her arm.

"You're the one who chose to be my enemy instead of my friend," Ren said flatly.

"How?" Midori asked. "Or was she ever knocked out at all?"

"Yes," Ren said. "I put her to sleep with my own genjutsu, and woke her while you were searching for the keys. We'd… discussed the possibility of a similar strategy."

Sakura grimaced. They'd discussed it, all right, and Sakura had refused to go along with it, due to the obvious chance of betrayal. She was lucky - very lucky - that Ren hadn't just betrayed her after all, but there was no point in letting Midori know all that. "There's no room for you to hide from us here, Midori," she said, forming a seal in one hand and sprouting talons of flame from the other. After a moment's hesitation, Ren followed suit.

"Idiots," Midori snapped, forming seals and channeling enough chakra that a physical pressure could be felt. She shoved out her arms, shouting, "Suiton: Crashing Wave Barrier!" A massive wall of water appeared between her and her foes, pouring out of her hands and sweeping the other kunoichi away, their flames vanishing into wisps of steam.

When the wave was finally finished and Sakura and Ren were able to regain their feet, the hallway was covered in ankle-deep water. "You don't have the chakra to create so much -" Ren began.

Midori interrupted her with laughter, the dark arcs of the cursed seal peeking out of the collar of her shirt and creeping up her neck. "Idiots," she repeated. Her hands formed more seals. "Water Replication Technique."

Sakura formed seals of her own, breathing, "Mist Concealment Technique." With so much moisture around, it took less than a second for thick coils of mist sprung into being. Sakura reached out, grabbing Ren's shoulder moments before the rapidly thickening mist hid them from view.

"What's that supposed to accomplish?" Midori asked, casually forming seals to seize control of Sakura's mist and disperse it. When it vanished, two clones were staring directly into Ren and Sakura's eyes and grinning. They formed a seal and stated in unison, "Haruno Ninpou: Gaze of Torment."

Everything was still for just an instant, before Ren and Sakura vanished. Most of the Midori dissolved into water, leaving only one, who doubled over in pain as the cursed seal expanded even further along her skin.

Ren appeared behind her, roughly grabbing her and placing a kunai at her throat. "I see you still suffer backlash when you miss with that technique," she said. "It's over." Sakura dropped down from the ceiling in front of Midori, but she stumbled as she landed.

"You okay?" Ren asked.

"I'm fine," Sakura said. "Just… a little drained. I usually don't try to change the appearance of my Perfect Replications like that."

Midori snorted. "You think I'm just going to stand here?" Foul, corrupt chakra burst out of her. There was a blur of movement Sakura couldn't follow, and then Ren was on the ground, a bloody gash torn across her stomach with her own kunai.

"Orochimaru-sama gave me more than enough power to defeat you too fools," Midori said, the cursed seal's markings now crawling over her face. She tossed Ren's bloody weapon aside as she stepped forward, her eyes seeking out Sakura.

"Sorry," Saburo's voice came, and then he was behind Midori, pulling her into a tight bear hug. Midori struggled for just an instant, then relaxed.

"What are you trying to do?" Midori asked. "I know the drugs in your system are keeping you from using chakra. I could kill you at any moment."

Saburo tightened his grip. "But you won't," he said firmly. "Midori, I'm -"

With one arm, black markings flowing up and down it, Midori broke Saburo's grasp. "How many times do I have to prove that I'm not some victim for you to save?" she shouted at him, as she threw him aside.

The instant Saburo was loose, Sakura struck. "Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" she shouted, the fiery talons hitting the distracted Midori perfectly.

Screaming, Midori whirled about and forced her way through the fire, and Sakura raised her other one arm to ward off a punch as the other girl neared. She tried to bring her fire claws back to strike Midori again, but the dark-haired girl somehow grabbed her wrist, forcing that arm away.

"It's not going to work again," Midori growled, sweeping Sakura's legs out from under her with a sudden kick. Instantly, Saburo was upon her with a flurry of blows. Midori just laughed, dancing and weaving though them to deliver a single palm strike to his face, sending her former teammate stumbling backward. "You can't beat me. Not anymore," she said, the black arcs writhing across her skin. "Particularly not now, when you're still half-sedated."

Sakura hurled shuriken as she rose, but Midori merely leaned aside to let them pass, then sent Saburo flying with a sudden kick and spun back about to face Sakura. "You're next, you little bitch. This is going to be fun."

Sakura took a step back. "I don't understand why you hate me so much, but it's obvious you do," she said. "But what about your friends? Ren-san is -"

"My friend?" Midori snarled. "Don't you understand? They were never my friends!" She took a step forward.

Then, from the ground, Ren grabbed her leg, throwing her teammate to the ground with a loud splash. As her other hand snared her bloody kunai, she rolled on top of Midori. "Do you… really believe that?" she asked, gasping for breath.

"Yes," Midori said flatly. The cursed seal's markings were still.

"Would I do this if I wasn't your friend?" Ren asked, and then she very deliberately looked her former teammate in the eyes.

The dark arcs of the cursed seal danced over Midori's skin, retreating and advancing fractions of an inch. "Ren… I… I…" A pained expression passed over her face, and for just a moment the cursed seal retreated entirely. Then it surged back, and Midori's eyes widened. "I can't -"

The hilt of Ren's kunai slammed into the side of Midori's head. "Sorry," Ren gasped as Midori fell unconscious. She rolled off of her former teammate and sat up, clutching at the gash on her stomach.

"Are you okay?" Saburo asked her, and Ren nodded weakly.

"Let me have the keys," Sakura said, glancing at Anko's cell, and a minute later she had freed her sometimes teacher, though the drugged kunoichi didn't stir.

Saburo had bound and blindfolded Midori, then turned to tending Ren. "What now?" he asked, but before anyone could answer there was a loud noise and a sudden feeling of danger. The whole room rumbled briefly, and for a moment it almost seemed like the whole complex was about to cave in.

There was a sense of great power and evil, but it didn't feel anything like a cursed seal's release. Sakura paled as one possibility occurred to her.

"What's going on?" Ren asked.

"I… don't know," Sakura lied. "I'll go check it out. You two try and wake up Mitarashi-sensei and get out of here."

"Sakura-san -" Ren began.

"I have to -"

Saburo interrupted her. "Kabuto took him to his laboratory," he said. "One level up the stairs, turn left." Not that she really needed directions, not when she could feel that aura of power.

Sakura nodded. "Thank you."

* * *

Sasuke smirked as he reached Kabuto's laboratory and found Naruto waiting, crouched on all fours atop the cot he'd been bound to. Crimson chakra shrouded the other boy, thickening with every moment as it formed ears and tails. "Two tails, huh?" Sasuke asked, knowing as he stared into his former teammate's crimson eyes that the other boy was beyond hearing.

There was a sensation of movement, and then Sasuke was hurtling through the open doorway and down the hall, crashing through another door and into the large dining room. A wooden table shattered under him as he landed, and the Uchiha cursed. He stood, the cursed seal erupting over his skin as its power filled him, numbing the pains of those injuries it hadn't been able to prevent. Green chakra encased one of Sasuke's hands as he started to mend what he could.

Before he could finish, Naruto was upon him, but this time Sasuke was ready for the rapidly expanding arm of red chakra that moved independently of Naruto's real limbs. Sasuke's eyes turned crimson as he flipped out of the way of the blow, landing lightly on another table. "No point in holding back," he commented, and the cursed seal's black corruption spread further, until the pattern covered his whole body.

A jet of flame escaped his lips, but all it hit was the scarlet afterimage Naruto left behind. The possessed boy reappeared in the air behind Sasuke, but his furious blow only shattered the stone wall that rose up to protect the Uchiha. As the two halves of the now-sundered table fell away, Sasuke leapt again, flipping in midair to land on the far wall, facing Naruto.

The cursed seal's markings flowed across his skin as he formed seals. "Chidori," Sasuke hissed, and he charged down the wall and straight at Naruto.

A crimson limb moved to intercept him, but dense chakra flickering around Sasuke's outstretched hand shattered the demonic chakra. It reformed behind the boy, but not before Sasuke had reached his goal, his hand plunging into the chakra shroud surrounding Naruto, hungrily pushing forward toward his chest.

There was a moment of perfect stillness. Then Naruto howled, and Sasuke jumped away seconds before two scarlet tails would have ensnared him. There was a tiny rip in Naruto's shirt, and through it for just a second a small, bloody gash was visible. In the blink of eye, it was healed, and Naruto jumped after his opponent.

Sasuke's hands flickered through seals as he landed back on the wall. "Fuuton: Gale Wall!" he shouted, and still air suddenly stirred with the force of a mighty storm, shoving Naruto back into the far wall.

The possessed boy wasn't fazed at all, charging back at Sasuke before a full second had passed. A kunai met him halfway, a powerful explosive tag dangling from its hilt. The blast destroyed the few remaining unbroken pieces of furniture, but when the smoke cleared Naruto still stood unharmed.

Three more kunai slammed into the chakra shroud an instant later, and three more explosions pushed Naruto back. This time, Sasuke was in motion the instant they hit, using the smoke and debris to cover his advance. He formed seals as he moved, using genjutsu to throw his sound and smell to the other side of his foe.

Crimson limbs flailed in that direction, and before Naruto could realize his mistake - if he was even capable of that in this state - Sasuke struck. A kunai plunged into Naruto's back, dense chakra pushing it through his crimson shroud. As Sasuke's hand left the hilt, electricity crackled around it, spreading over Naruto's body. The boy spasmed wildly, the red chakra losing cohesion and becoming just a storm of loose power.

In that moment of vulnerability, Sasuke charged again, the sound of a thousand birds chirping drowning out Naruto's roars as a Chidori plunged through his heart. There was stillness, then Sasuke withdrew his hand and leapt away, mere instants before the reforming demonic chakra would have consumed him.

The gaping hole in Naruto's chest closed swiftly, and he turned to face his foe once more. "So this is the Kyuubi's power," Sasuke said, no fear showing in his voice. "Not even a direct strike to the heart can kill you in this state."

Naruto stood still, and the chakra around him stirred. Then, slowly, a third tail began to emerge.

* * *

Naruto's eyes moved slowly between the two blood-and-chakra foxes that slowly advanced on him. The foul water beneath his feet stirred, disturbed by the power still emanating from the massive gates before Naruto. Behind those gates, the immense bulk of the demon fox Kyuubi waited, its anticipation filling the still, warm air, a sensation like someone's hand was constantly hovering over the back of Naruto's neck.

"What's happening?" Naruto asked. "Out there?"

"Destruction," the Kyuubi rumbled, pleasure evident in its voice. "Destruction and death."

One of the demonic foxes charged Naruto, and the boy leapt away. The fox's single tail whipped around, extending in length and following him, but Naruto rebounded off of wall to avoid it. Chakra filled his hand as he plummeted at the demon. "Rasengan!" he hissed.

The fox seemed to shatter and the whirling orb of chakra hit it, streams of crimson flying through the air as it broke apart. Panting, Naruto landed on the water, turning to face the remaining fox.

His eyes widened, as even without turning around he could feel the first fox reforming behind him. He reached for a weapon that wasn't there until his hand closed around it, and an instant later the two foxes pounced on him. Naruto vanished in an explosion of smoke.

The foxes spun about, easily finding Naruto perched on a wall. "Damn it," the ninja muttered, his mind racing for options.

"They cannot be defeated," the Kyuubi commented. "Not without defeating me." The monstrous fox mouth opened his mouth, revealing white fangs that seemed to glow in the darkness that lay beyond the gate. "And you cannot defeat me."

"We'll see about that," Naruto replied, but the words rang hollow in his own ears. Below him the foxes paced, but they made no move to attack. He glanced back at the entrance to this chamber, but he knew escape was futile. No matter how he fled through those twisting passages, he would always return here.

"The only way out is through," the Kyuubi stated. The smaller foxes parted, leaving Naruto a clear shot to the gates.

"I'm not stupid," Naruto said. "If I go in there, you'll destroy me."

"And if you don't do something," the Kyuubi replied, amused malice filling its voice, "your friends will die. If you let me out willingly, perhaps I will change my mind and spare them." It turned away from the gate. "But I am content to wait. My power has already escaped this prison. In the end, I will be free, regardless of your decision."

Naruto glanced back at the entrance again, remembering the two-tailed fox that had vanished down that dark hall. "For me, just as for you," the demon had said, "the only way out is through." His eyes returned to the foxes prowling below, and then he moved.

"Futile," the Kyuubi observed as the boy dove, another Rasengan spinning in his hand. The fox he targeted didn't even try to dodge, letting the spiraling chakra disrupt its form.

"I'm not done yet," Naruto growled. "Shadow Replication Technique!" In less than an instant, five Naruto faced the second fox. As one, they reached down, touching the murky water. When their hands came up, a globe of water followed.

"Suiton: Pressure Bullet!" they shouted, releasing the missiles. The blast pushed the crimson fox back to the bars of the gate, and the five charged it, headless of the chakra claws that rose up to rend them.

A sixth Naruto instead turned to face where the first fox was reforming. He took a deep breath, then ran into the center of the pooling, scarlet chakra. The atmosphere changed suddenly, and Naruto could feel the Kyuubi's surprise in it. "What?" the demon roared, even as the second fox destroyed the five clones.

Naruto ignored the fox, instead concentrating on the burning chakra that surrounded him. "You're on my side of the gate," he snarled. "That means… you do what I say!" It shouldn't be any different than when he controlled the red chakra in the real world. He was in charged here.

The second fox raced at Naruto, but too late. There was a sudden shift, and then Naruto's arm moved unthinkingly, somehow forcing up a massive wave of water that washed the second fox back behind the gate.

"Boy," the Kyuubi rumbled angrily. Crimson chakra burned all along the barred gate, and the whole room shook with the force of the demon's rage.

"Shut up," Naruto said. "The only way out is through for you too; that's what you said, isn't it?"

"This is only a temporary reprieve, and when I am free," the Kyuubi promised, "you will beg for the release of death before I am done with you."

"I just have to let your power take me out," Naruto finished, smiling and ignoring the demon's threat, and then at his command the crimson chakra lifted him up and -

Naruto's eyes opened, barely able to see through the shroud of crimson chakra enshrouding him. It burned every inch of his skin, but Naruto forced through the pain, focusing on the figure standing before him. "Sasuke," he breathed.

Then he collapsed, and everything went dark.

* * *

Sakura couldn't believe at first that it was Naruto she was looking at. She could barely make his small form out beneath the thick crimson chakra that covered him. He was bent over on all fours, and two scarlet tails waved through the air behind him. He growled, and there was nothing human in the sound.

The air was hot, pregnant with power and rage, and Sakura couldn't make herself talk. If she did, Naruto might notice her, might turn to face her, and then… then… It was almost inconceivable to think of Naruto hurting her, but she could feel the evil that possessed him now.

She realized who Naruto was growling at, and for a moment all thought left her. There was Sasuke, looking almost as she had last seen him. Perhaps paler and harder, with colder, hungrier eyes, but still the Sasuke she had known. Then she noticed the musical note on his forehead protector, and her heart sank at the reminder.

The Uchiha didn't seem to notice her either, his red eyes fixed on the monster before him. "So this is the Kyuubi's power," he said, emotionless. "Not even a direct strike to the heart can kill you in this state."

Naruto froze, and as if to make up for it the chakra around him thickened and stirred. Waves of power emanated from his still form, and Sakura raised her arms to shield her face even as the pressure forced her back. A third tail began to grow, first slowly and then rapidly, and Sakura fought back the urge to scream.

"Sasuke," she heard Naruto gasp, and then suddenly the pressure was gone. She lowered her arms and saw Naruto collapse.

"Hmph," Sasuke said, staring at the other boy's unconscious form. A kunai appeared in his hands.

Sakura swallowed nervously. "Sasuke-kun," escaped her lips.

Only now did Sasuke seem to notice her, his crimson eyes glancing dismissively at her. Sakura searched his face for any sign of emotion, finding nothing. "I should have expected to run into you," Sasuke said. Sakura searched for words, unable to find any. After a moment, the Uchiha snorted, his attention returning to Naruto. He took a step forward, his grip shifting on his kunai.

Sakura matched the motion, one shaking hand going for a kunai. "Don't… don't touch him."

Again Sasuke's crimson eyes took her in, and Sakura's blood chilled. "And if I do?" he asked, sounding bored. "Do you propose to stop me? Don't think that chuunin uniform you're wearing means you're suddenly my equal."

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura breathed, unable to stop her voice from sounding pleading.

"He doesn't mean anything to me any more," Sasuke said. "Neither do you. Those bonds are broken. Get in my way and I'll kill you first."

"If I… if we didn't mean anything to you," Sakura said, "wouldn't you kill me anyway?"

Sasuke snorted. "You're more valuable alive as fodder for Kabuto's experiments."

"Experi-" If Sakura's blood had been chilled before, it was freezing now.

Sasuke took another step forward toward Naruto's still form, then leapt backward to avoid Sakura's kunai. Sakura stared, almost disbelievingly, at her thrown weapon as it landed. "Don't touch him," she said weakly.

"Probably the wiser course," Sasuke observed. "This swift death will be less painful than what Kabuto would have done to you."

Shaking, Sakura moved to stand protectively over Naruto, drawing another kunai. "Don't do this, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke laughed harshly. "You're an idiot to think I'd turn back from this path now."

"You still can," Sakura said. "Come back home -"

"Home?" Sasuke asked, and he laughed again. "Home to an ANBU isolation cell, only dragged out to serve as breeding stock? I'd have to be an idiot to want that."

Only instinct warned Sakura, and she ducked just in time as the real Sasuke attacked from behind. A lighting-fast kunai strike passed over her head as the Sasuke she had been speaking with vanished in a puff of smoke. Instinct guided her again as she counter-attacked, kicking up at Sasuke with strength and speed born of her training with Gai and Lee.

She hit only a shard of a shattered table. Sasuke landed out of easy attack range. "Strong Fist Style," he observed, then he brought one hand up to his lips. "Katon: Great Fireball Technique!"

Sakura grabbed Naruto and jumped out of range of the massive, rolling ball of flame. After safely depositing the unconscious boy on the other side of the room, she turned back to Sasuke and considered her options.

"You can't win," the Uchiha observed.

"We'll see about that," Sakura replied, and she charged.

"Genin-level genjutsu?" Sasuke asked, disgusted. "You expect the Displacement Technique to work against me?" He formed seals. "Katon: Fire Dragon Blast." A thin line of flame escaped his lips, flying to pass through the air a few feet to the side of Sakura.

Sakura kept on moving, and almost managed to hit Sasuke with her kunai, but he batted the blow aside. A palm-strike forced the kunoichi back, and Sasuke snorted. "Clever. Using that technique to cloak a replication, then hiding yourself in the replication's displaced image. It almost worked, but against these eyes it's just as futile."

As she skidded back, Sakura formed seals of her own. "Katon: Fireball Technique!"

Sasuke didn't even bother to dodge, the small blast of flame evaporating into wisps of smoke before it hit him. "Foolish," he began, then his eyes narrowed. He spun about, blocking another kunai strike and sending the real Sakura flying into a wall. The other Sakura vanished. "Perfect Replication Technique. That one won't work, either."

Sakura painfully rose. "I guess not," she said. Sasuke didn't advance, and the brief pause in the battle left Sakura shaking as she had a moment to reflect. How could she possibly win against Sasuke? Thus far, he'd done nothing but effortlessly defeat her attacks. When he began his own offense -

In an instant, Sasuke was in front of her, casually placing her own kunai against her throat. "It seems there's no point in waiting for you to show me an interesting technique," he said.

Sakura clenched her fist. "Katon," she growled, "Claw of the Fire Dragon."

Sasuke somehow dodged the flames, but his strike left a bloody streak down Sakura's arm instead of slitting her throat. "Surprising," Sasuke said, "but not interesting. Orochimaru taught me those techniques months ago." He created a Claw of the Fire Dragon himself, then slowly advanced.

Sakura clutched at her wound, feeling the blood creep down her arm. She fell to her knees. "Don't," she breathed.

"Pathetic," Sasuke observed, then he moved in for the kill.

Sakura raised her wounded arm. "Hidden Snake Hands!" Sasuke froze for just an instant as the snakes flew at him, then his fiery talons destroyed them. Before he could recover, Sakura's arm slammed back to the ground, her other hand smearing the blood across the tattoo hidden by her shirt sleeve. "Summoning Technique!" she shouted, panic giving her new strength as she drew forth all the chakra she could spare.

A massive snake - larger than a grown man - appeared out of the cloud of white smoke and hurled itself at Sasuke. The boy's hands moved through seals, and there was a pulse of power as the snake collided with him. Sakura raised her unwounded arm to shield her eyes, and when she lowered it only Sasuke remained.

The Uchiha's crimson eyes almost seemed to glow, then faded to black. He was clutching at a bloody bite on his shoulder, and he staggered slightly. His hand glowed green, and he straightened. "Powerful poison," he said. "Those techniques, how did you…"

Sakura slowly stood, forcing herself not to show the weakness she felt from the chakra drain of summoning such a huge creature. "Sasuke-kun," she said. "You don't have to -"

"Have to what?" he interrupted harshly. "Come to Orochimaru for power? You think you've proved something?" He laughed. "The only reason you've even touched me is because I've fought too many battles against far more powerful opponents today." He closed his eyes for just a moment, and when they opened the Sharingan stared out once more. "I'm done playing now," he said.

Sakura took a step forward. "Sasuke-kun," she said yet again. She knew there had to be something better to say, but no other words came to her mind.

Sasuke's hand pulled away from his shoulder, blood dripping from it, and for a moment it hovered over his other arm, where Sakura knew Sasuke's snake tattoo was, before moving to rest at his side. "Orochimaru has taught me many techniques," Sasuke said, the black corruption of the cursed seal spreading across his skin, "but I still find this one my favorite." He slowly, deliberately began to form seals, power seething about him.

Sakura swallowed as she recognized the seals and remembered Kakashi's advice. "Sakura-chan… if he uses Chidori, run. I can tell you've grown, but Sasuke-kun's been training with Orochimaru. If he's willing to strike to kill you…"

"You won't," Sakura said, trying to believe that she wasn't only trying to convince herself. Sasuke didn't say anything, instead simply concentrating chakra into one hand, the sound of chirping birds filling the air. Sakura stood still, trying to trust in her own words.

"Chidori!" Sasuke hissed, and Sakura closed her eyes. Running would only mean she'd get hit from behind.

The blow never landed, and Sakura's eyes opened. Naruto stood between her and Sasuke. He had grabbed hold of Sasuke's arm, and the last sparks of Chidori faded away harmlessly. Crimson chakra flickered around Naruto, but his eyes were blue as he turned to Sakura. "You okay, Sakura-chan?" he asked.

Sakura nodded, as Sasuke wrenched his arm free and leapt back. "I'm fine," she said forced herself to say, taking a deep breath and trying to keep from shaking.

"Good," Naruto snarled, and then he took a step toward Sasuke.

The cursed seal's black markings twisted and grew, and the Uchiha smirked. "So eager to die?" he asked.

Naruto ignored him. "You ready?" he asked Sakura.

The kunoichi slowly nodded. Almost unthinkingly, her hand went to a pouch and pulled out a soldier pill. She swallowed it quickly, hoping that it would be enough to keep her going through the rest of the fight. "Ready. This time -"

"- we do it together."

* * *

Nara Shikamaru waited for his pursuer in a small clearing, over a mile from where his friends were fighting. His ears strained for any sound of Jabisen's approach. The Leaf chuunin smiled grimly as he heard trees shaking. "That's right, you mute son of a bitch. I'm out of energy to run. I'm right where you want me."

Then he rolled to one side, out of the center of a sonic burst. Even so, he was thrown into a tree trunk, and he couldn't rise before Jabisen appeared, looming over him. A grim smile of his own on his face, the other boy kicked Shikamaru's hastily-drawn kunai out of his hand.

"Taijutsu too, huh?" Shikamaru asked. "I guess you aren't any more willing to believe I didn't kill your sister, are you?" Jabisen opened his mouth, and Shikamaru laughed harshly. "Didn't think so."

His entire store of explosive tags, each one hidden high on a tree trunk, exploded, shaking the forest. Jabisen stumbled backward, mouth open in a silent scream, then collapsed. Shikamaru stood, stumbling a bit before straightening.

"I figured your ability had to have an exploitable weakness. Otherwise your clan would be more famous." Jabisen began to try to crawl away, only to be snared by Shikamaru's shadow. "Then I noticed that you were channeling the sound around you to make your attacks, and the rest was simple. If the sound was too chaotic, too unexpected, too loud - like a nearby battle or some carefully timed explosions - you couldn't handle it and you got hurt."

Shikamaru sighed as black markings began to spread across Jabisen's skin. "For what it's worth, I really didn't kill your sister. Shadow Neck Bind Technique." For a moment there was silence, and then Shikamaru sighed again. "That's that."

He stepped away from the corpse, staring up at the sky through the trees. "I suppose I need to go see how troublesome things have gotten," he said, his eyes tracking a cloud's progress. He stood still a moment longer, then he was jumping from branch to branch. There wasn't any more time to waste.

He heard the sounds of battle before he saw it, a familiar, haunting melody floating avoid them. "Tayuya, huh?" he said. He paused atop a tree, eyes narrowing as he studied the sounds. "Lee," he said. "Neji. And something that isn't human. One of her demons." He shook his head. "Troublesome."

He hid his presence as he approached, taking several moments to watch the battle from safety. It took only a handful of seconds for him to analyze the fight. Tayuya was hard-pressed - unsurprisingly given her opponents - but was able to use the demon to keep the two Leaf ninja at bay.

Shikamaru shook his head as Lee took on the hammer-wielding monster head on. The strategy was much too obvious to succeed, and indeed a moment later the demon jumped away in response to a handful of sharp notes, just in time to block Neji's attack on its mistress. The Hyuuga took a backhanded blow from the demon's hammer, but a puff of smoke revealed that he had used the Replacement Technique in time to get away.

Shikamaru carefully circled the battle to get behind Tayuya, occasionally sneaking worried glances at the kunoichi's inhuman body. She was strong enough in this form to overpower his techniques, probably faster than before, since she had experience at it. He was only going to get one shot to affect her, and it was going to have to be timed perfectly. To make things worse, he couldn't risk communicating with Neji or Lee to let them know what to do.

"Come on," he mouthed silently as he got into position. "Be dumb or desperate enough to try it again." He watched Tayuya carefully, drawing a kunai and bringing it up to his lips. His shadow writhed under him, creeping toward the girl, but careful to keep its motion out of her field of view.

This time it was Neji who distracted the demon, using an earth element technique to try and ensnare its weapon. It took only a second to wrench the hammer free, but in that second Lee flew past it, heading straight for Tayuya. The kunoichi grinned, pressing her flute to her lips -

- and then she tossed it away, unknowingly mirroring Shikamaru's actions. "Got you," he said with a smile, even as the Sound ninja broke free, diving from the treetop after her instrument.

Lee met her in midair. "Leaf Whirlwind!" he shouted, the spinning kick knocking his opponent toward his waiting teammate, standing beside the still, impotent demon.

"Eight Divination Signs," Neji intoned, "Sixty-four Palms of the Hand." Ten seconds later, a once-again human Tayuya was slumped against a tree trunk, and the demon vanished in a puff of foul, acrid smoke.

"You little vermin," Tayuya muttered weakly as Shikamaru landed beside the other two Leaf ninja. Before any of them could move to secure her, she weakly tossed a smoke bomb on the ground in front of her. When the smoke cleared, she was gone.

Shikamaru knew that with her tenketsu closed she'd be unlikely to return to bother them. "What's the situation?" he asked.

Neji formed a quick seal. "Byakugan." He paused. "Tayuya's running away. Kidoumaru's down and bound. He's out of the fight. I don't see anyone else." He hesitated again. "Wait. Shizune-sama and Kabuto are… move!"

The other two didn't hesitate, getting away before a sea of flame consumed the clearing where they'd been standing. A second later, Shizune landed, kneeling in the center. "Going underground won't help you, traitor," she snarled, raising one fist. She slammed it into the ground, and the earth gave way.

Shikamaru stared into the dark hole that she'd vanished into. "I guess we should follow."

Lee suddenly grimaced. "What if the Sound kunoichi frees the other one?"

Neji shook his head. "We've got bigger problems than either of those," he said.

"What is it?" Shikamaru asked grimly.

"This fight's gone on too long. There's company coming, and lots of it."

"Sound ninja?" Lee said.

"Who else would it be?" Neji deactivated his Byakugan and turned to Shikamaru.

"Well," Shikamaru said, then he trailed off. "This could get troublesome."

* * *

Ren gasped as she struggled up the narrow stairs, hand over the poorly bandaged gash on her stomach. "I need to rest," she said as Saburo and she reached a landing, even as new pulses of power from below demonstrated how poor an idea that would be. For a moment, she wondered if Sakura was all right, but she pushed the thought aside. The Leaf girl could take care of herself. What was important now was getting out of here.

Saburo gently set down the still forms of Midori and Mitarashi Anko . "Just a second or two," he said softly, though Ren knew he was also tired from the strain of carrying the two kunoichi. "But we can't wait for long."

"I know," Ren said.

"She'll be all right," Saburo added, and Ren gave him a half-hearted glare. "Fine," the boy said, "I won't try to cheer you up."

"Sakura can take care of herself," Ren said, echoing her thoughts of a moment ago. "But if we run into trouble -"

"There's not a lot of Sound here. They tried to hide it, but I noticed that much while I was their… guest," Saburo said. "And they should all be busy dealing with Sakura's friends. We just have to get out of here and head straight for the coast." He paused, then gestured to Anko. "I guess we should take her with us."

Ren laughed. "As if we could stop her from leaving when she wakes up."

Instead of answering, Saburo suddenly pounced, shoving her to the ground. Ren landed painfully on her wound, and before she could protest her teammate had a kunai at her throat. "Sakura," he growled. "Where is she, traitor?"

Ren's eyes narrowed. "Yamanaka-san?" she said, and Saburo grunted in response.

"Answer me. Or I'll stop wasting my time." The boy's eyes were flat, and Ren didn't doubt for an instant that the girl possessing him was willing to kill.

The underground complex rumbled, the stone walls seeming to flux. "Can't you tell?" Ren said. "There." She paused. "You should probably look around before you kill me," she added, risking a nod of her head at the two unconscious kunoichi.

Saburo looked aside for an instant, seeing the two - and more importantly, that Midori was bound and Anko was free. He relaxed a hair, though the kunai didn't move.

"We're on your side," Ren said. "Sakura and I were tricking Midori. That's all." There was another flare of power from below.

Saburo released her. "I'm not letting my guard down," he warned, then he formed a seal and stumbled slightly. "That was… weird," he said, himself once more.

Ino emerged from the shadows, a kunai of her own in her hands. "What happened?" she asked, and Ren began to explain, as quickly as she could.

"And then Sakura left to go find that Naruto kid."

"You let her go alone?" The question came from Anko, and all three young ninja started, turning to see that the woman had opened her eyes. The special jounin stood, though her legs trembled. She almost fell as the Sound base shook yet again. "Idiots. We have to go after her."

"We're not really in any shape to help," Ren said dryly. "Except for Yamanaka here."

Anko glanced at the younger Leaf ninja, then held out a hand. "Soldier pill," she demanded.

"But," Ino began, then handed one over without further protest.

Anko swallowed it. "I'm not the type to give you some stupid speech about teamwork and friends. But I'm not going to leave anyone in Orochimaru's hands. You two take Midori and get out of her. Yamanaka, you're with me."

"Yes, sir," Ino said, though her voice was nervous.

Saburo looked at Ren. She just nodded. "The pill will counteract the drugs the Sound gave me?"

"Close enough," Anko said.

Ino shook her head. "It's dangerous to use them like -"

"Please. We owe her," Saburo said, and Ino sighed before pulling out two more. "Here," she said, tossing them at him and Ren. Then she threw another pill at Ren. "For the pain."

Ren gave a weak smirk. "Thank you."

"What about her?" Saburo asked, gesturing at Midori.

Anko formed seals. "Shadow Replication Technique." The second Anko roughly grabbed the bound girl, then vanished. "She'll be fine," the real Anko said. "Now, let's move."

* * *

"Together?" Uchiha Sasuke laughed sharply, the cursed seal's taint writhing over his skin. Foul chakra boiled out of his form, and his crimson eyes whirled. "You really think it will matter whether you fight me together or alone?"

"Yes," Naruto stated. A hint of crimson flickered in the air around him, but his eyes remained their natural color and even Sakura, standing right beside him, could feel no malice in it.

"You won't be reckless enough to unleash that power now," Sasuke said, his eyes resting for only an instant on Sakura.

"He won't have to," Sakura said, her bravado sounding false even in her own ears.

Naruto glanced sideways at her. "You-"

Sasuke took advantage of the momentary distraction vanishing and reappearing behind the other boy, a kunai stabbing for his guts. It found only a shattered piece of wood.

"Katon: Claw of the Fire Dragon!" Sakura snapped, but the Uchiha flipped out of the way, a stream of small fireballs spewing from his mouth at her.

Before she could react, Naruto was in front of her, hands forming a single seal. "Whirlwind Shield!" he roared, and the still air erupted into a storm that flung the flames aside.

"Interesting trick," Sasuke said, "but I know a better. Fuuton: Desert Knives." Blades of wind flew throughout the room, grinding the stone walls to sand wherever they hit. Within a second, a fierce sandstorm consumed the two Leaf ninja. They exploded into pale, gray smoke. Sasuke snorted. "Shadow Replication, huh?"

Then the stone floor under his feet rose up. As he leapt away, the moving rock formed itself into two massive hands, hungrily grasping for their prey. They met two hurled explosive tags and collapsed back into piles of rubble. As the echoes of the blast faded away, Sasuke's crimson eyes found his prey. His feet rested for just an instant on a wall, and in that moment his hands blurred through seals. Then he descended, chakra sparking around one outstretched hand.

Naruto knelt, both hands pressed to the ground, and the rubble of his last technique shifted. A massive, muddy barrier sprung into being, blocking Sasuke's charge. With another snort, the traitor jumped once more, hardly slowing as he vaulted over the wall.

Fiery talons met him in midair, forcing him to change course, landing on another wall as the chakra in his hand died out. The cursed seal's markings writhed on his skin, then slowly retreated. Despite this, no warmth showed in his red eyes as he looked at Sakura. "Foolish," he said.

"It stopped you," Naruto said.

"She pulled her blow." Sasuke snorted. "Didn't want to kill me. Made it even easier to escape it."

"You're my… our…" Sakura swallowed. "We want you to come home, Sasuke-kun. Not to kill you."

Sasuke laughed. "If you want to survive for much longer, you're going to have to try to kill me. You won't succeed, but you'll have to try."

Naruto snarled, scarlet flickering around him once more. "Do you really want that snake bastard to steal your body this badly?"

"If that's what it takes to accomplish my purpose," Sasuke said. "I've already severed my bonds with you. With all of the Leaf Village." He took a deep breath, and dark, flame-like markings began to spread across his skin once more. "You mean nothing to me anymore, and if you persist in annoying me I'll kill you both."

Naruto exchanged a glance with Sakura, and the kunoichi nodded. "Let's do this," she said, though her voice wavered slightly.

"All right, then." Naruto's eyes flickered closed, then opened, power pouring out of him. "Mass Shadow Replication Technique!" he roared, and moments later dozens of clones were flying at Sasuke.

A smirk appeared on the other boy's face. "Predictable." Both of his hands touched the wall he crouched on. "Doton: Temple-Destroying Technique."

There was a loud rumble, and then the stone ceiling began to cave in. Large, jagged rocks rained down, and soon the air was filled with white smoke as Naruto's clones were destroyed. Sasuke jumped up through the hole his technique had made, only to find three Naruto waiting for him in the room above.

One was disrupted by a spinning kick. The second took advantage of Sasuke's distraction, diving in at him. A burst of flames destroyed that clone, but then a fourth Naruto emerged from the wrecked room below, chakra already spinning in his hand. "Rasengan!"

Sasuke whirled about, hands forming seals. "Raiton: Thunderbolt Technique!" he shouted, and the lightning struck the oncoming Naruto in the chest. There was a burst of smoke, and then the third Naruto was behind Sasuke, wrenching the traitor's arms behind him.

"Got you," Naruto growled, for just an instant his eyes flashing red.

Sasuke snorted, for the moment not resisting. His eyes barely moved as Sakura joined the two. "Is that really all you've improved, dead last?" he asked. The cursed seal's taint writhed over his skin. "I guess that thing inside of you is your only real strength."

"Shut up." Naruto's grip tightened on his former teammate's wrists.

Sasuke's foot stamped down, and the already weakened floor gave way completely. As they fell, he broke free of Naruto's hold, kicking off of the other boy, and jumping back up. Fiery talons met him in midair, and he summoned a pair of his own just in time to block them. "Hmph," he let out, his crimson eyes seeking out Sakura's as their techniques shoved against each other.

The kunoichi knew better than to meet his gaze. Her eyes stayed fixed on his torso, giving her plenty of warning as Sasuke's other hand sprouted a second set of flaming tendrils. Sakura dropped her own technique, shifting in midair toward the closest wall. Sasuke's attack swept through the air mere inches from her, but didn't hit.

The traitor landed, then almost instantly rolled aside, dodging the shower of shuriken Sakura had thrown. Two Naruto were waiting for him, and one delivered a powerful kick to Sasuke's jaw, knocking him into the air. "Uzu-" he stated as he vanished in a puff of smoke, the second Naruto leaping to follow his opponent. Another clone popped into existence, knocking Sasuke higher even as it vanished. "-maki-"

"It won't work," Sasuke said, somehow spinning in midair, disrupting a just-formed clone with a powerful blow. "Katon: Great Fireball Technique," he intoned, and the real Naruto fell back to the ground, battered by the flames. "Pathetic," Sasuke said, and then his eyes widened at a sudden presence behind him.

"Forget about me?" Sakura asked, striking at him.

Sasuke parried the punch with a perfect block. "Leaf Shadow Dance," he observed, then blocked another attack. "Followed by a sequence of blows to force me into a defenseless position. Trying to use my own Lion Combo against me? Foolish." He caught Sakura's next blow, and using that for leverage he spun them around so he was above her. "Lion Combo," he said amusedly, then slammed his foot into her stomach.

There was a burst of faint smoke, and his kick shattered a small boulder. "Not bad," he observed. From a perch on the wall, Sakura spat a small fireball at him, and Sasuke answered with a torrent of his own flames.

The kunoichi leapt away, but not before tossing a kunai, explosive tag dangling from the hilt. It flew unimpeded through the flames, then blurred, becoming first a handful, then dozens of blades. Sasuke rebounded off a wall, throwing a single needle that narrowly missed where Sakura had landed.

Sakura winced, suddenly standing half a foot to the right and pulling the needle out from her uniform jacket. "Poisoned," she observed. "Lucky for me it didn't penetrate."

"It doesn't matter how many genjutsu you use," Sasuke said as he landed between Sakura and the rising Naruto. "These eyes see through them all. I knew that all your weapons were fake, and I knew that you were trying the Displacement Technique again."

"Heh," Naruto said as he finished standing. "If you're so good, why aren't we dead yet?"

"Because I'm giving you a chance to give me all of your techniques," Sasuke observed coldly. "Surely this pathetic collection isn't everything you've learned these past months." He half-turned and took a step back, placing both of his opponents in his field of vision. "She's had… more than expected, but you should have more. You have been studying with one of the Legendary Sannin."

Naruto was silent for a moment. "There's more to being a ninja than just techniques," he said, though he sounded more as though he was trying to convince himself.

"A lot more," Sakura said firmly.

Sasuke laughed, the cursed seal's marks retreating once more. "What? Stupid little lessons like Kakashi's? Ninja who don't follow the rules are called scum -"

"- but those that don't take care of their friends are worse than scum," Naruto finished, his voice strong once more.

"The first lesson we were taught," Sasuke said.

"You were the one," Sakura said weakly, "who passed that test for us."

"I was, wasn't I?" Sasuke replied. "Not because I figured out that lesson, though." He snorted. "I thought that dead last here would be marginally less useless if he'd been fed."

All three ninja were silent for several moments. "I met a ninja," Naruto said suddenly, "who was out for revenge."

Sasuke smirked. "On his brother?" he asked.

"On her grandmother," Naruto corrected.

"I suppose this is a real story, then," Sasuke said, "and not you trying to spin my own tale into a lesson." He snorted. "You're not clever enough for that, though."

"I helped her get it," was all Naruto said.

Sasuke said nothing. Sakura swallowed, then added, "We want to help you. You aren't alone. We…"

"You're going to say you know how I feel, aren't you?" Sasuke said. A brief flash of anger showed in his eyes. "Neither you have ever lost anything. Not like me."

"We lost you," Naruto said.

"You knew me for less than a year," Sasuke said. "Don't protest. We went to academy together, but neither of you had a full conversation with me until the day we became a team. Losing me is… nothing. Not like -"

"Like losing your family?" Sakura said weakly.

Sasuke froze, standing perfectly still for a moment. "What -"

"My mother was a spy," Sakura said. "She betrayed the village, to the Sound and the Leaf."

"Sakura-chan," Naruto began, but the kunoichi just talked over him.

"I killed her," Sakura said, and now she let herself look Sasuke in the eyes.

Naruto's mouth opened and closed wordlessly, and Sasuke spoke first. "Congratulations," he said flatly.

"It didn't… it didn't make me feel any better," Sakura said. "I still wish -"

"This isn't about making me feel better," Sasuke interrupted. "Kakashi tried to give me that speech too."

"What is it about, then?" Naruto shouted. "Why do you have to do this? Why betray us; why come here? You know what Orochimaru really wants! He isn't your friend!"

"I know," Sasuke said softly. "And it's for the best. Bonds like friendship only make you weak. Even now, you can't strike to kill me. But I've broken all my bonds, and I'm free to do whatever it takes to kill him. Even if it means giving Orochimaru this body." There was silence, and the Uchiha laughed. "You see? You can't even imagine that I would really go through with it. You two don't understand me at all."

"Words aren't going to make you see how stupid you're being, are they?" Naruto asked after a moment.

"No." Sasuke's voice was cold. Then he jumped in the air, an instant before another Naruto emerged from floor, Rasengan spinning in one hand. "Surprisingly treacherous," he observed amusedly as he landed beside the other Naruto, "but I knew this was a shadow replication from the beginning." With a casual spinning kick, he disrupted the clone.

Then his eyes widened as a real kunai Sakura had handed to the clone fell to the ground, explosive tag sparking. Sasuke had just an instant to shield his face before the powerful explosion threw him back against a wall.

Before he could recover, Sakura raised one arm, snakes flying out of it and into the cloud of smoke and dust. There was a pained scream, and Sakura winced, then retracted the snakes. When the cloud settled, Sasuke sat still, pale and clutching pointlessly at one snake bite.

Naruto swallowed, then advanced on him. "It's over," he said, glancing at the bloody mess the explosion had made of Sasuke's legs. He grimaced.

"You were able to contain the first dose of my snakes' poison," Sakura said weakly. "But it's harder the more poison is in your system. And with your chakra control weakened by it, you can't use medical techniques to heal yourself."

Sasuke let out a bitter laugh that dissolved into fit of coughing. "More clever and more ruthless than I expected. Both of you."

"Come on, Sasuke," Naruto said, a hint of pleading entering into his voice. "Come back with us."

"You're giving me a choice?" Sasuke asked.

"No," Naruto answered coldly. "I told you before that I'd save you from Orochimaru if I had to break every bone in your body to do it. That hasn't changed, but it would be better if you cooperated."

"I won't," Sasuke said, "and you're foolish for thinking this is over." His eyes turned crimson once more, and the cursed seal erupted over his battered body. "But now it will be," he hissed, and the darkness spread all over his skin, the sudden outpouring of power shoving Naruto and Sakura back.

* * *

Inuzuka Kiba breathed heavily as he leaned against a tree trunk. It was barely high enough to hide him, the top half of the tree lying on the ground a dozen yards away, sheared off be some technique. Akamaru laid down by his feet, panting weakly, and Kiba grimaced as his eyes traced the numerous wounds that marred his partner's small form.

"Sorry, boy," he whispered, resisting the urge to reach down and pet the dog. With that many wounds, it would only cause him unnecessary pain.

Hidden behind another tree, Hinata sighed softly. "We're safe for the moment."

"Good," Shino said coldly. "We rest for now, then." With their teacher gone with a jounin squad to target the enemy commanders, the bug user had taken command once more.

"Do either of you have a spare soldier pill?" Kiba asked after a moment. "I'm out."

"It's not safe to take so many," Hinata said.

"Worry about that after we live through today," Shino stated. He pulled out three small pills, swallowing one and then tossing the other two to his teammates. "You need one too, Hinata." The Hyuuga heiress didn't object, taking the pill, then letting her eyes close for just a moment.

All around the trio of genin was war, and it was like nothing they had seen before. They had fought before, and they had killed before. They had participated in the still-bloody, still-deadly replacement for war that was the Chuunin Exams. But never before had they seen hundreds - thousands - of ninja, from lowly genin to the mightiest jounin, unleashing their most powerful techniques with deadly intent.

This place, on the outskirts of one of the Fire Country's deep forests, had been beautiful only hours before. Now it was a wasteland. Low-lying areas were choked with pale clouds of poison, remnants of some of the Mist's techniques. Acres and acres of forest were nothing but ash, littered with the skeletons of those caught in the firestorms the Leaf had summoned. Summoned beasts and fouler spirits prowled the battlefield, and they were less deadly than the ninja that hunted each other through the desolation.

"Is there any sign of Hokage-sama," Shino asked, "or -"

Hinata shook her head, and Kiba didn't know whether or not to be relieved. The return of the Hokage or Jiraiya could turn the increasingly desperate battle around, but the arrival of the Mizukage or Orochimaru could end all hope of victory. So long as those battles continued, either could still happen.

"So, what next?" Kiba asked.

"As soon as we get the word," Shino began, but then Hinata stiffened, and both boys knew something bad was happening.

"They've brought up reinforcements," the kunoichi said shortly. "At least ten fresh squads. They're advancing and starting to circle around us."

Even though he couldn't see them, Kiba knew that Shino had closed his eyes. After a long moment, Shino spoke, his voice oddly somehow more stiff and more human than Kiba had ever heard before. "It's been good," Shino said, and then he stepped away from his tree trunk.

Kiba straightened, nodding to himself. "One last time, Akamaru," he said, lifting the dog up onto his shoulders. He walked over to Shino's side.

Hinata was still for a moment. "Thank you," she said, and then she joined her teammates.

Now the other two could see the Mist emerging from cover all around them, squad after squad of gray-uniformed ninja. The Leaf didn't emerge from cover to be counted, but Kiba knew well enough how badly they were outnumbered.

There was silence for a long moment, before one Mist stepped forward from the enemy ranks. "In the name of the Mizukage," he said, his voice carried by a technique across the shattered battleground, "I am authorized to offer quarter if you lay down your arms and surrender."

"Not unexpected," Shino said softly. "The only reason to show themselves so boldly is to intimidate us."

"Now we wait," Kiba muttered. "Again."

"Not for long," Hinata said, and indeed less than a minute of silence later the Mist faded back into cover.

"Here it comes," Shino stated.

Tendrils of sickly green and pale crimson mist began to form, advancing across the battlefield at the Leaf positions. In answer, a mighty windstorm shoved the toxic fumes back, kicking up small storms of ash. As the dispersing poison clouds revealed the Mist advancing behind them, the dancing ash caught flame and rained down on the enemy ninja.

Screams floated in the air, but the Mist kept coming, and blasts of water and other techniques began to pummel the hidden Leaf squads. Kiba ducked back behind a charred tree, then poked his head out to loose a small fireball at the advancing Mist. Even as three kunai carrying powerful explosive tags embedded themselves in the other side of the tree, Kiba was racing to another piece of cover.

Hinata screamed a warning, and four Mist shimmered into existence in the center of the genin squad's position. "Genjutsu," Kiba cursed, even as his tired hands formed seals, channeling chakra though himself and Akamaru.

Shino raised his hand, thin streams of bugs pouring from out of his jacket, only to be knocked aside by a blast of water from one Mist. Hinata fell into a fighting stance, even as Kiba forced himself to finish his technique, turning himself and Akamaru once more into a monstrous two-headed wolf.

He charged the Mist squad, flames spewing from his mouths, ignoring the bolts of cold water that splashed off of his thick hide. Then one of the enemy drew a long, curved sword, and the temperature seemed to drop. "Fuuton: Freezing Blade Technique," the ninja intoned, and with two swipes of his weapon, unnaturally chilled blasts of wind pushed Kiba pack. One of his paws struck a puddle, and suddenly it became an icy snare. He ran out of chakra, and his transformation was broken.

Hinata had one of the enemy on the ground, helpless, but the other two were circling around her, searching for weakness. Shino had stumbled to his feet, but the ninja who had defeated Kiba was behind him in an instant. His cold blade went to Shino's throat. "It's over," he said. "Tell the freak to surrender."

Beside Kiba, Akamaru whined softly. Grimacing, Kiba struggled futilely to free his foot from the ice that bound it. Then he stopped, his nose tingled with new scents, penetrating even through the stench of death and other smells of battle. The enemy didn't notice anything, but both Hinata and Shino could read Kiba, and their stances shifted slightly.

It was hard to put into words, but suddenly the sounds of battle changed. Then a female voice called out, "The Third Stance: Calling the Wind." The ninja holding Shino captive reacted instantly, jumping away moments before a blade of wind sliced through where he had been standing.

"Heavenly Spin!" Hinata roared suddenly, taking advantage of her opponents' distraction, the Hyuuga secret technique sending them flying.

Three ninja emerged from cover, and Kiba grinned as he recognized them. "Allies of the Hidden Leaf," Hiraki Arata said with a matching grin, "the Hidden Village of Waterfall."

"Looks like we're lucky," his teammate Yuhara Maya said, her naginata in a ready stance. "We get to pay you guys back for the favor in the exams."

"Convenient," Chiba Ikkei observed.

"Waterfall ninja?" the Mist who had captured Shino asked, grabbing at his sword. "But you should be -"

"I'm afraid not," Arata said. The sounds of battle continued to change in tone. "That's the whole weight of the alliance coming down on you bastards," he added. "Waterfall, Sand, and Grass."

The Mist ninja gave a muttered curse, then suddenly dissolved into water. "Water clone," Shino observed.

Kiba finally wrenched himself free, as two more of the Mist ninja dissolved as well, leaving only the one Hinata had originally pinned. As that last enemy stumbled to his feet, Shino spoke again. "In the name of the Hokage," he said, "I am authorized to offer quarter."

After a moment, the Mist ninja raised his arms in surrender.

* * *

Black lightning arced through the underground chamber, a sudden storm of malignant power consuming Sasuke's fallen form. There was a sudden blur of motion, and something tackled Naruto, sending him flying through an already weakened wall and into the hallway outside. Sakura stood frozen for just a second, then raced through the broken wall, but Naruto had no eyes for her.

He rose, red chakra blazing around him, and between him and Sakura stood something that - even having seen it before - he didn't want to believe believe was Sasuke. Grotesque, massive wings, formed like some mockery of human hands, sprouted from his back. The Sharingan's crimson iris floating in a field of black in his eyes, and he smirked as he met Naruto's gaze. His legs were still badly injured, but he stood on them with seemingly no concern for the immense pain that should have caused.

"Which of you dies first?" Sasuke asked, amusement in his voice.

Naruto's hands formed seals, three clones of him abruptly appearing. "No one's dying," he said flatly.

The clones vanished in explosions of smoke, and Sasuke's smirk widened. "That's not an option," he said. He stretched out both hands, one pointing at each of his foes, and waves of darkness poured from them. Sakura was hit first, and Naruto heard a pained scream before the blackness consumed him as well. He felt himself falling backward, into an endless void. Falling for what seemed like an eternity -

- and he was back before the Kyuubi, only now the bars of the gate were bent, almost broken. The paper seal was aflame, and the demon fox strained against the gates, wordless roars shaking the dim maze outside. The air was hotter than an oven and wetter than a rainstorm. Arcs of burning, crimson chakra crackled through the air, the water erupting into steam and the walls catching fire as they struck.

Yet, all this was not what Naruto focused on, his eyes going to the figure of Sakura, kneeling in the foul water, facing him and the gate. Tears flowed from her eyes, and Naruto took an unthinking step forward. "Sakura-chan!"

In the blink of an eye, the kunoichi was on her feet, standing atop the water, a kunai appearing in her hand. "Stay away, you monster!" she screamed. The Kyuubi hurled itself once more against the gate, and a massive stone fell from some distant, unseen ceiling. It landed with a massive splash, and Naruto raised one arm to shield his face from the water.

Then Sakura was upon him, her kunai finding its way into his shoulder, fiery claws sprouting from her other hand and slashing burns across his chest. Naruto stumbled away, and Sakura pushed her attack, forcing him further and further back until he was shoved up against one of the gate's bars. With unnatural strength, the pink-haired girl grabbed his neck and lifted him with one arm, her fingers tightening around his throat, almost choking him.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto forced out, "why are you…"

"Now I see what you really are, demon," she snarled, and as if in answer the Kyuubi drew back from the gate, a low rumble in its throat. "Murderer. You belong in there, with your true self."

"I… you…" Naruto couldn't think, couldn't move,

"You disgust me," Sakura continued. "The Leaf disgust me, for creating you. They're no better than Orochimaru." She laughed. "Maybe I should join him. Then I could at least be with Sasuke-kun, and that's all I ever wanted, anyway."

"No!" Naruto's hands went to his throat, trying to pry loose the girl's fingers, with no success. Why was Sakura doing this? Even at her angriest, she wasn't like this. It wasn't -

"You're not Sakura," Naruto said flatly. His body stilled. "This isn't real."

Sakura smirked, and it was Sasuke's smirk. Her eyes flickered closed, and when they opened again it was the Sharingan that stared out of her face. "Now, that's surprising," she said, still with Sakura's voice. The cursed seal's black marks spread across Sakura's skin, as the Sharingan began to whirl. "You breaking my genjutsu, even to this limited extent."

"Let me go," Naruto said, but no matter how he tried he couldn't get Sakura's… Sasuke's hands loose.

Sasuke shook Sakura's head. "I don't think so," he said in her voice. He glanced around. "Your fears, I must admit, are much more entertaining than hers. I wouldn't have thought you had the creativity to construct such a place."

"What's happening to Sakura-chan?" Naruto demanded.

Sasuke laughed, the laugh a disturbing mix of his own and Sakura's. "We're attacking her. Along with another woman - her mother, I presume."

"How could you do that to her?" Naruto asked.

He shrugged Sakura's shoulders. "She's doing it to herself," he said, "and it's not like she means anything to me. Neither do you, for that matter."

Naruto looked into Sasuke's red eyes, staring out of Sakura's face, and then he smiled a tight smile. "Liar."

"You're wrong." Sasuke tightened his grip.

"Liar," Naruto repeated. He managed to pry one of Sakura's fingers loose from his neck. "You didn't kill me before," he continued.

"That was before," Sasuke said, "and even then, it wasn't because of you. It was because he wanted me to."

"He?"

"But now I will," Sasuke continued, forcing an utterly alien smile onto Sakura's lips, a strange light dancing in his gaze. "And when these eyes don't change, it'll prove that you mean nothing to me."

"You aren't making any sense," Naruto said.

"I'll kill you both," Sasuke announced, suddenly throwing Naruto away, through the gate. Both the gate and the Kyuubi's still, forgotten form faded away into blackness, as Sasuke charged, the cursed seal's markings writing across Sakura's body.

His first punch was wild, uncontrolled, and Naruto caught it. "I won't let you hurt Sakura-chan."

Sasuke laughed again as he wrenched Sakura's arm free, malign chakra churning around the false form he wore. "I already am. You can't win. Both of you are caught in my genjutsu. You can't escape on your own, and you can't help each other. It's over."

"No it isn't," Naruto said, chakra gathering in one hand.

"That's meaningless," Sasuke said, finally letting Sakura's shape melt away into his true form, though twisted into a demonic mockery by the cursed seal. "None of this is real." He stretched out one hand to touch Naruto's chest. He drew back his hand, and a Chidori formed around it. "But this is," he said, and with agonizing slowness the dense mass of crackling chakra reached for Naruto's heart.

And stopped. Sasuke froze, and dark void surrounding the two shattered, replaced by the hallway deep inside Orochimaru's fortress. Sasuke remained still, the Chidori fading away, as Naruto stumbled back. He ran into Sakura who caught him, her arms wrapping around him.

"Naruto?" she asked, her voice quavering.

"It's me," he said.

Sasuke ignored both of them, his wings beating once as he slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder at Yamanaka Ino. The kunoichi was kneeling, her hands frozen into the final seal of the Paralysis Technique. "You?" Sasuke asked flatly. "Pathetic. By joining this battle you've only caused your own death." There was a burst of malign chakra, and Ino was flung back, her hands breaking the seal.

Mitarashi Anko caught her. "She's not alone, idiot," the special jounin said.

Ren and Saburo appeared next to Naruto and Sakura. "Are you okay?" Ren asked. A shaking Sakura released Naruto, as though she'd suddenly realized she was still holding him, and nodded.

Sasuke's crimson eyes darted around the room, and then he smiled. "I'm not alone, either," he said, and Kabuto emerged from the wall behind the monstrous boy, followed a moment later by Tayuya and Kidoumaru.

* * *

Tsunade's pained eyes stared into the vacant expression of her dead lover. Wordlessly, Dan twisted the blade that pinned the Hokage to a tree trunk, unaffected by the gasp of pain she uttered. Nawaki's small form approached, then without hesitation he punched his sister.

"You will die," Orochimaru said, "and I will take a sample from your corpse to add another Hokage to my… collection." He laughed. "It's a shame I was preoccupied and forgot to take Sarutobi-sensei."

Tsunade's eyes focused on her former teammate once more. "Monster," she said.

"You say that like it's something I would be ashamed to be," Orochimaru observed mockingly. "Unlike you, I've never felt any particular compulsion to be limited by human morals." He shook his head. "We could have been a wonderful team, if you'd accepted my offer instead of Jiraiya's."

Now it was Tsunade who laughed, weak though her mirth was. "If I were that type of person, I'd have turned on you the moment you no longer had anything I needed."

"And I would have done likewise," Orochimaru said, a faint and disturbingly genuine smile crossing his face. "That's what would have made it so entertaining… and fruitful besides. We both know how powerful a motivator the fear of death can be."

"And yet you leave me in this position long enough to have this pleasant chat?" Tsunade asked.

"True; it is rather foolish," Orochimaru agreed. "Finish her off, Dan."

"Too late," Tsunade snarled, one of her fists planting itself in Dan's chest. The dead ninja stumbled back only a few feet despite the strength of the blow. Her other hand caressed the rough bark of the tree Kusanagi still pinned her to. "I don't die today."

"Oh?" Orochimaru asked, then his eyes widened as Tsunade formed a strange sequence of seals in one hand.

"Mokuton: Entangling Grasp Technique," the Hokage hissed and new, vine-like growths sprouted out of tree trunk. Rapidly growing, they ensnared both Dan and Nawaki, securely binding the two dead ninja.

"Wood element ninjutsu," Orochimaru growled, surprise and anger warring in his voice. "How?" he snapped, as Tsunade casually pulled Kusanagi out of her shoulder. Her free hand glowed green, hovering over the wound, and it closed.

"You didn't think that a ninja of my rank didn't have secrets even you never learned, did you, Orochimaru-kun?" Tsunade asked, false sweetness in her voice. She swung Kusanagi, testing the unfamiliar weapon's balance and weight, her other hand grasping the cursed necklace Orochimaru had returned to her.

"It isn't possible!" Orochimaru shouted. "I tested you; I tested your brother; I tested your father; I tested every blood relative of yours in the village! I dug up and sampled every corpse in your family's graveyard! None of you shared the First's unique abilities! None of you!"

"We didn't," Tsunade agreed, "though perhaps if my father had been born later in Grandfather's life it would have been passed on and become a Bloodline Technique."

"The abilities must have been acquired after your father's birth, then," Orochimaru murmured. "Then, you…"

"I followed in Grandfather's footsteps, after Dan died," Tsunade said sadly, "because his notes implied that one of wood element ninjutsu's highest techniques was a resurrection technique."

"Notes?" Orochimaru asked, his voice strangled. "The First Hokage left… notes? Detailing how he learned wood element ninjutsu, and its secrets?"

Tsunade nodded. "There was a time," she said, "when I would have given them to you, if you could have humbled yourself enough to ask for help."

Orochimaru let out of bark of bitter laughter. "Do you have any idea how many years I spent pouring over the samples I took from the First's body, searching for those secrets?" He shook his head. "Cruel, cruel woman."

"Thank you," Tsunade said grimly.

"So," Orochimaru said, "why didn't you use this resurrection technique? Surely it didn't cost too much, not when the sacrifice my technique requires didn't stop you from considering it."

"It only works within a short time of death," Tsunade answered, "and it wasn't the sort of resurrection technique I thought it was." A dark smile appeared on her face. "But thanks to you," she said, then trailed off. Stabbing Kusanagi into the ground, she began to form a long chain of seals.

Orochimaru took a step back. "Interesting," he said, watching the seals closely and making no move to interfere.

"Mokuton," Tsunade intoned, "Peaceful Sylvan Rest."

The still forms of Dan and Nawaki suddenly began to writhe, ash pouring out from under their false skin even as the vine-like growths released their bodies. The two dead ninja slumped to the ground, and tiny saplings sprouted, growing up through their bodies as they dissolved into ash. The young trees grew swiftly, until they were both over a dozen feet tall.

"Fascinating," Orochimaru breathed. "More of a reincarnation technique than a resurrection technique. You use wood element ninjutsu's ability to create life to remove the need for a sacrifice, binding their spirits to the new trees. No doubt originally designed to put ghosts and other disturbed spirits to rest, or even to bind a demon. I've never seen anything quite like it."

"I'm glad you're impressed," Tsunade said.

Orochimaru bowed shallowly to her. "Thank you," he said. "It's a rare joy these days to encounter a technique that's truly new to me." He smiled. "It's enough that I don't even feel bad that you've most likely placed those two beyond the reach of my technique, since in some sense they live again."

One of Tsunade's hands went to Kusanagi's hilt. "Enough pleasant words, Orochimaru. We aren't done."

"I suppose not," the renegade Sannin said. "I'll take my sword back, then," he said, and he gestured vaguely. Kusanagi dissolved into a cloud of smoke, then reappeared in Orochimaru's hand. "Shall we continue?"

Before Tsunade could respond with either words or deeds, the forest around them rumbled, and both of them turned to look at the massive toad that had landed much too close for comfort.

"You're making a habit of these little reunions, Jiraiya," Gamabunta grumbled as he shifted his weight, the nearby trees shuddering.

"Jiraiya?!" Tsunade stared up at the comparatively tiny figure who stood on top of the summoned beast in shock. "What -"

"I see you made it," Orochimaru said cheerfully.

"Present for you," Jiraiya growled, throwing a still body in tattered robes to land at Orochimaru's feet.

"Excellent," Orochimaru smirked. "I had hoped that I'd get a chance to add a Mizukage to my collection before today was over." With one slice of Kusanagi, he severed one of the dead ninja's arms, then with a gesture he made it vanish in a puff of smoke. "I'll leave the rest for your medical ninja to study," he said. "Farewell."

"Not so fast," a new voice stated coldly, and tendrils of sand sprung into being, wrapping rapidly around Orochimaru.

The renegade ninja's eyes narrowed as his captor stepped into view. "Gaara of the Desert. Now, that's unexpected." He smiled, seemingly unconcerned by the coffin of sand that was encasing him. "It's a shame; if I'd known you were coming I would have prepared a reunion with your father."

"He didn't come alone, Orochimaru," Jiraiya said. leaping to the ground as Gamabunta vanished in a giant explosion of white smoke. "I've brought the entire Leaf alliance here to play."

Orochimaru shrugged. "I got most of what I wanted. So far as the Mist are concerned, their Mizukage just died from a treacherous Leaf attack at a peace conference. Thanks to this victory, the Leaf will be in a stronger position, but this war will not end anytime soon. If you really brought the whole alliance here, your enemies in the Rock and Valley will have struck before those forces can return. There will be no period of peace for you to recover your strength and strike at me to reclaim the Uchiha.

"And," he added, "I still have poor Naruto-kun if you think to try."

"Die," Gaara said flatly, closing his fist. The coffin of sand constricted, and there was a wet splatter, but it was mud, not blood, that emerged.

"You didn't really think I would die so simply?" Orochimaru's voice mocked, and then all sense of his presence was gone.

"Damn," Jiraiya muttered.

"Jiraiya!" Tsunade nearly shouted. "What the - why are you here? What happened? Does Orochimaru really have -"

"There will be time for questions later," Jiraiya said. "Right now we still have a battle to finish."

"Does Orochimaru have Naruto?" Tsunade demanded.

"Don't worry," Jiraiya said. "Orochimaru doesn't know everything."

* * *

For just a moment, Yakushi Kabuto studied the Leaf and Mist ninja facing him, a faint smile on his face as he stood a step behind Sasuke's monstrous form, despite one arm that dangled limp and useless at his side. Then the medical ninja formed a seal with his good hand, before prodding a spot on Sasuke's shoulder with two fingers.

The boy grunted painfully, his skin turning a black-ish purple, the grotesque wings on his back shuddering and melting into his back. The darkness covering his skin broke up, becoming the familiar pattern of the cursed seal, which rapidly retreated. As it vanished, Sasuke almost screamed, his eyes fading to black. "Wh-"

"I'm sure it would have been an interesting fight, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto said, "but it's time for us to regroup." The younger traitor stilled, rage apparent in the subtle shaking of his body.

"Kabuto-san," Naruto said coldly, taking a step back. The other Leaf and Mist gathered around him and Sakura, facing the Sound. "He's dangerous," Naruto added unnecessarily.

"I want," Sasuke began.

"What you want doesn't matter," Kabuto said. His hand gripped Sasuke's shoulder, and now the Uchiha did scream. "It stopped mattering the instant you swore yourself to Orochimaru-sama." Sasuke collapsed into the medical ninja's good arm. "Tayuya," he called, and the Sound kunoichi took him.

"Idiot," she muttered at her burden.

"Kidoumaru," Kabuto continued calmly, "if you would, a web to slow these six down."

The six-armed boy made as if to comply, but then one of the remaining walls crumbled, and Shizune stepped through the rubble and into the hallway. "You can't hide from me, trai- Naruto-kun! Anko-chan!"

"Heya, Shizune-sempai," Anko said.

"What a touching reunion," Kabuto said, adjusting his glasses. "Shame I'll miss the rest of it."

"You're going nowhere, traitor," Shizune snapped, "and neither is the Uchiha." Her eyes flicked toward Sakura and Naruto. "This all ends here."

Kabuto stood. "We'll see," he said calmly.

"Shizune-sama, are the others -" Sakura began.

"Why don't we rejoin them and see?" Shizune asked, lightly touching the ground with one hand. The floor rumbled, and suddenly began to rise, becoming a rapidly growing pillar that lifted all five ninja. The ceiling above, then the next, and the next, opened, revealing a bright blue sky. In a matter of moments, they stood in the open air once more.

"Impressive," Kabuto allowed, shifting his weight, "if pointless."

"Hardly," Shizune said. There was a blur of motion, and Shikamaru, Neji, and Rock Lee joined the rest of the Leaf and Mist ninja.

"Everyone," Naruto breathed.

"Naruto-kun!" Lee exclaimed in greeting.

Kabuto still seemed unworried. "I admit that it would be most difficult to deal with all these children while fighting you and Mitarashi-san," he said, "particularly since none of my allies are in much condition to help"

"Do you surrender?" Shizune asked.

"Don't be silly," Kabuto said. "You haven't won anything. With the havoc we've caused, every Sound ninja in this part of the country will be coming. We're overstretched, but unluckily for you we've been preparing an attack to end the Fuuma Clan's little rebellion. There will be reinforcements arriving here shortly, enough to make short work of you. Even if you flee now, you can't hope to escape this country alive."

"He's right," Shikamaru said softly. "Neji's already spotted ninja incoming."

"What do we do?" Sakura asked nervously.

"Running and hiding won't help you," Kabuto said evenly. "It would be better if you all surrendered now. Otherwise, some of you will die."

"I think not," a new voice said, and even Neji started, surprised. The Sound leapt away, mere moments before the ground under their feet exploded.

"Who -" Kabuto started, as he landed on a tree branch.

"For the moment, allies of the Hidden Village of the Leaf," Iwakuro Hojo said as the settling dust from the explosion revealed him, "the Hidden Village of Rock." More Rock ninja emerged from the forest all around, cloaking genjutsu discarded.

"The Tsuchikage?!" Sakura exclaimed as she took in the robes the man was wearing.

"Hojo-sensei!" Naruto called out.

"Surprising," Kabuto said, his voice still eerily calm.

"You and I have unfinished business," Hojo said dangerously, a large metal staff appearing in his hands with a puff of smoke.

"True," Kabuto allowed, "but it won't be finished today." The other Sound ninja converged on his position, and then he formed a seal with his good hand. There was a sudden storm of leaves, and then they were gone.

"After them," Hojo commanded, and the Rock ninja obeyed. "I suspect he'll get away," the Tsuchikage said wearily. "He's a slippery one."

Shizune relaxed, and suddenly seemed much more tired, barely able to stand. "He's strong," she said. "I take it you received Jiraiya-sama's message?"

Hojo nodded. "You're very lucky I was able to convince the village council that Orochimaru was a greater threat than what's left of the Leaf's power."

After a silent moment, Shikamaru spoke. "What next?"

"You can rest," Hojo said. "My ninja will secure the area for the night, and then we'll head for the Fire Country border."

Shizune nodded. "You have our thanks. And once she learns of this, Hokage-sama's as well."

"Don't thank me," Hojo replied. "Thank the old pervert. He called in every favor I still owed him, and promised more than a few besides." Hojo's gaze turned toward Naruto, who squirmed under his examination. "One of them I can call in now."

Sakura swallowed nervously, and the other Leaf ninja stiffened. "What do you want with Naruto?" she managed to ask, wondering just how they could stop the Tsuchikage from taking whatever he wanted.

"Nothing you would object to," Hojo said gently. "Naruto-kun, you probably noticed that there was something I was trying to find out about you when you trained with me."

Naruto nodded. "I did," he said.

"It's part of the reason I agreed to train you in the first place," Hojo said, "and Jiraiya offered to tell you to answer my question if I aided you now." He shrugged. "He said you could summon a toad to confirm, if you wished."

"I trust you," Naruto said simply. "What do you want to know?"

"There's only one man who's ever beaten me in single combat, and you… remind me of him, Naruto-kun," Hojo said. "So, tell me… who is your father?"

There was a moment of silence as Naruto blinked several times. "I… I have no idea," he said quietly. "I never thought about it before."

Silence fell again, only broken when Hojo began to laugh. "Jiraiya, you clever bastard."

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings

1) That ending had a bit more impact before Kishimoto had the bad manners to not only reveal who Naruto's father was, but also his name, while I was busy slowly revising this chapter. Ah, well.

2) This took way, way too long, both for the first draft and the revision. I have numerous excuses, some related to real life, some related to Kishimoto doing his best to make me lose interest in Naruto. None of them really account for how long this took, so my deepest apologies. I can only hope it was worth the wait.

3) The first draft of this chapter was only beaten out by Chapter 12 for longest chapter. This revision beats Chapter 12 by almost 20 KB.

4) Writing this chapter reminded me of why, in my original conception of this story, Kabuto was Naruto and Sakura's "final boss" and Sasuke never appeared at all. This was more dramatic, but it was very hard to try and make the fight satisfying while still ending with all the characters where I wanted them. I didn't succeed with the first draft, and I'm not sure if this draft is much better. I sure hope so.

5) Thanks to everyone who commented on the first draft, in particular Eimii. Their suggestions are responsible for a great deal of any improvement in this version.

6) Next time in One Hundred Days Epilogue, The Night After… well, I suppose you'll just have to wait and see.

Draft Started: January 17, 2007  
Draft Finished: July 14, 2007  
Draft Released: July 15, 2007  
Revised Draft: March 24, 2008  
Final Released: April 01, 2008


	18. Epilogue: The Night After

**NOTE: The previously posted preview of Chapter 16: The Hundredth Day has been replaced with a complete, final version. Go back and read it before reading this epilogue.**

One Hundred Days  
A Naruto Fanfic  
By: Aaron Nowack

Epilogue: The Night After

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem. Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, humans!

* * *

It was late into the night, and Naruto could tell that Sakura was getting impatient. They hadn't had much - or rather any - time to talk after the battle had finished. Shizune had taken Naruto aside to ensure that he hadn't suffered any permanent damage from the drugs Kabuto had given him. Sakura had gone off to help deal with a Fuuma Clan scouting party that had come to investigate the commotion.

Now, everyone was settling in for the evening, with the numerous campfires of the Rock army making up for the stars and moon hidden behind a shroud of clouds.

"- and that's how we met Rui-san," Mako finished. The Rock kunoichi and her team had attached themselves to Naruto and Sakura once the Rock had finished setting up camp. Naruto could guess that they had been assigned watching him as a duty, but it wasn't one they seemed to mind.

Rui herself - she and her brother having found them shortly after the Rock team - smiled slightly. "I have to admit, even knowing that you studied with one of the Legendary Sannin, it was surprising that the Tsuchikage knew you, Naruto-san."

Seated beside Naruto, Sakura shook her head. "He's certainly made a lot of friends," she said, not quite hiding the irritation in her voice.

"Is something wrong?" Rui's brother asked her, and Sakura shook her head.

"I'm sure Tsunade-baachan will be able to help you, Ichizo," Naruto said seriously.

Ichizo's hand unconsciously went to the cane by his side. "I certainly hope so," he said, then paused. "Naru-san," he finished with an evil smile.

"Naru-san?" The question came from Mako's teammate Akira.

Naruto paled. "It's a long story." Rui just laughed.

Sakura looked at the expression on Naruto's face and grinned. An instant later, though, her face had smoothed, and she stood. "Naruto and I need to talk," she said firmly. "In private." The Rock team glanced among themselves, and Sakura added, "We won't leave the camp."

"All right," Akira said after a moment. He turned to Ichizo and Rui. "But while they're gone, you need to tell us all about… Naru-san."

Naruto swallowed nervously, but after a moment he stood and followed Sakura a short distance away from the campfire. Sakura made as if to head to the next fire over, where the other Leaf were, but then jumped up into a tree. Naruto joined her, then carefully asked, "What is it?"

"It's about Ren and Saburo," Sakura answered. "They helped us, and now…" She trailed off, vaguely gesturing in direction of the tent where the two Mist genin and Midori were confined, although thus far everyone had been very careful to avoid using the word 'prisoner.'

"I understand," Naruto said. "Let's go."

"We can't just… we need a plan," Sakura said. "They'll be guarded."

"Let's talk to them, first," Naruto said. "We'll be allowed to do that, I'm sure."

"And check out how they're being guarded," Sakura said. "Right."

Less than a minute later, they were perched in a tree near the Mist ninjas' tent. "The guards are asleep," Naruto said unnecessarily, glancing at the still, but breathing, pair of Rock ninja.

Without words, Sakura jumped to the ground and headed to the tent, and Naruto followed. When they entered, Mitarashi Anko nodded at them. "Hi, Sakura-chan. Uzumaki. See you had the same idea as me."

Ren bowed slightly at the two young Leaf, and Saburo followed a second later. "Thank you for coming," Ren said softly. Midori was still unconscious, and bound.

Anko glanced down at the drugged kunoichi. "Before you go," she said, "I want to make sure this is what you want to do."

"What do you mean?" Saburo asked.

Anko rubbed the side of her neck. "The Leaf have… experience with cursed seals. We're the ones that can help her the most. If you leave her with us, I'll ensure she'll be well-treated. Better than is likely if you take her to the Mist Village." The two awake Mist ninja didn't say anything. "I'm not going to force anything on you. I just want what's best for her."

"We understand," Ren said, but Saburo bent down to pick up Midori. "We are still ninja of the Hidden Mist," Ren continued. "But… thank you."

Anko nodded, then she turned to Naruto and Sakura. "Get out of here, you two," she said, not unkindly. "I'm already in trouble for breaking Ren here out of prison back at home. There's no need for you two to be mixed up in this."

Naruto glanced at Sakura, and after a moment she nodded. "All right," she said.

"Thank you," Ren said again. "And… I hope, after the war, we have a chance to meet again, Sakura-san."

A few minutes later, Naruto and Sakura were once more in the trees, Anko having disappeared with the three Mist ninja. "I guess… we should head back," Sakura said.

"No," Naruto said. "We do need to talk."

"You're right."

Neither of them said anything for a moment. "You… I guess you know, don't you?" Naruto asked. "About me."

Sakura nodded. "I… put the pieces together," she said. "Shikamaru knows also."

"I… guess that's okay," Naruto said. "Are… are you -"

"It doesn't matter to me," Sakura interrupted. "Or him, for that matter."

There was another long pause, and again Naruto broke it. "I see you passed the exam," he said, glancing at the uniform Sakura wore.

"Yeah," Sakura said softly. She didn't volunteer any more information.

"What… what you said, about your mother," Naruto said.

"It's a long story," Sakura said, her voice flat.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked carefully.

"It's… a long story," Sakura repeated.

"It can be a long night," Naruto said, "and it seems like we'll have time for more than enough stories before I'll be leaving again."

"You…" Sakura wasn't certain what she intended to say to finish the sentence, and the lone word hung in the air for what seemed an eternity. "You first," she finally said. "Tell me all about what happened with this Rui girl. And why her brother called you Naru-san."

"All right," Naruto answered a moment later, "we'll take turns."

The End

* * *

Author's Random Ramblings

1) And this is the shortest "chapter" in the story. I always said it would be brief, but it's necessary to wrap up some loose ends and provide a little bit better closure.

2) All in all, I'm fairly proud of this work. It's much, much longer and probably better than anything I've written before, written faster on average than anything I've written before, even with the massive delays on the final chapter. Not everything turned out as well on the page as I imagined it in my head, but I think I managed to meet my self-imposed goal of being more amusing than the anime fillers.

3) I've mentioned several times to several people a vaguely planned oneshot sequel. What I don't think I've ever spoiled is what it would be about: the next time Naruto and Sakura's paths cross, about a year later as the Sand Village holds a Chuunin Exam. Unfortunately, I don't know if it will ever get written, due to declining interest in Naruto and numerous other projects I'd like to work on.

4) I think it would surprise many of you how poorly planned this story really was at the start. I honestly started writing the prologue and first chapter with no idea of where the story would go, other than that Naruto and Sakura would meet again on the hundredth day. Most of the broad plot arcs firmed up fairly quickly, but more times than I'd care to admit I had no idea what either Naruto or Sakura would be doing in a chapter when I sat down to outline it.

5) I'd like to give a big thank you to everyone who provided C&C over the course of this story. This includes: Jed Hagen, the Eternal Lost Lurker, MWhaleK, Andrew Petalik, FVoeltner, Eimii, Skywise Skychan, William Little, Druid, Glazius Falconar, Jourdan M. Bickman, Joel N. Fischoff, David Johnston, Thiemo Guenther, David McMillan, Matthew Campbell, Luke Mason, Nuclear Death Frog, Jared Wadell, Troy Thomas, countless reviewers from , and - last but never least - my sister, Rebecca Nowack.

6) And, finally thank you for reading! Yes, you. Yes, even if I just thanked you. Without readers, there'd be little point in spending the effort to get these stories out of my head and into words.

Draft Started: July 15, 2007  
Draft Finished: July 15, 2007  
Draft Released: July 15, 2007  
Revised Draft: March 29, 2008  
Final Released: April 01, 2008


End file.
